Naruto: Ryukatsu's Ambition
by JasonEpsilon725
Summary: In a world where most Ninja have incredible abilities, powerful Kekkei Genkai, their own Tailed Beast or inhuman levels of skill and power, one young Genin has only his mind. Ryukatsu Shogun of Team Thirteen has a dream, a dream of making a new world, a better world... And nothing shall stand in the way of his ambition. Smart!OC, NaruHina in later chapters.
1. The Day a New King was Born

There was no time to think. No time to calculate, play the odds, change the rules, visualise possible outcomes or even weigh the inherent costs and benefits of every possible action. The gates loomed in front of him like a colossal visualisation of the metaphorical crossroads of fate, taunting him, demanding he make one final choice.

Did he really have to join The Shinobi Academy of Konoha?

A short twelve-year old Ryukatsu Shogun looked up at those gates, his straight strands of rosewood hair falling back over his emerald-eyed face. He had a dark-green shirt, loose black tracksuit pants held up by a belt with two pouches of ninja tools attached to each hip, and black rubber boots.

It was time to make a decision. Ryukatsu Shogun had no Kekkei Genkai, no spectacular world-famous ninja parents(Both were retired and only Chunin-level), and he only had a minor proficiency in Genjutsu, along with the precise chakra control necessary for that and possibly Medical Jutsu. But he was smart, and he knew it. Still, he appeared to be a support-type Ninja, if ever there was one. Would that be enough to make him a great ninja? Could he fulfill his ambition, or would he die on some mission, another insignificant and ultimately forgotten name on some big rock that most people didn't even know the significance of, tucked away in one of the training areas few Ninja and even fewer Civilians visited? Perhaps it would be better to give up now, and try another way. Maybe he could become a politician, or a diplomat. Then again, ninja skills would be useful for both of those paths...

Then again... He'd heard what his father had to say about this place, and what his ANBU drinking buddies/sparring partners had to say about it. How most ANBU had to unlearn most of what they were taught at the Academy, and how it was designed to only teach the absolute basics... partly so that a Genin's Sensei could change and tailor their real teaching and training to suit the individual and make each of their Ninja the best they could be, but mostly so that those who failed the Genin Exam and became ordinary Civilians wouldn't end up knowing dangerous Ninja techniques, only the absolute basics every Ninja knew... and even then, they'd rarely have much reason to use or remember them. And he'd also heard what those ANBU Ninja had to say about the Jonin(And even worse, the Special Jonin) that were stuck teaching.

He made his decision. A young Ryukatsu Shogun walked through the imposing gates, alone.

His first day at the Academy was mediocre. They talked about what it meant to be a ninja, did a few physical exercises, threw some wooden kunai at targets, and began teaching the absolute basics of Chakra and Ninjutsu. He came sixth(Out of fifty-two students) in the footrace during gym class, he wasn't asked any questions during the lessons and he only put his hand up for a few questions, he spent his break times on meditation and beginner chakra exercises, and he didn't talk to anyone. He found his classes boring- those classes were only for Academy Students. It wasn't enough for him.

Instead of going straight home, Ryukatsu Shogun spent the rest of his day in the Konoha Library, intending to get a head start on his peers. He ran all the way there, and began reading. He went home at 9PM, when the kindly old lady who owned the place got his attention and reminded him that he had a home to return to. He assumed she was just trying to be polite about asking him to leave, and he cheerfully sprinted home. The library stayed open all night every day, but she still wanted him to go home. He was still just a kid. When he got home, he told his parents he was studying at the library and he had to do it to become a great Shinobi, and a good Genjutsu Master. They bought it.

Within a week, he had learned all the basics of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu theory, learned some good physical, mental and chakra exercises for beginners and began doing them, and he could outrun most of the ninja in his class(Pretty much anyone except that idiot Kiba Inuzuka, that double-idiot Naruto Uzumaki, or the surprisingly-skilled Sasuke Uchiha. Annoyingly, they were a little faster than him, and much faster than the others in the class). But he was still alone.

Within a month, he was learning D-Rank Ninjutsu and C-Rank Genjutsu, and he'd test them out on anyone willing to 'Spar' with him(Still, out of a desire to avoid tipping his hand or getting in trouble for hurting anyone too badly, he tried to keep things on the safe side, and just as an unusual book once told him, he always prepared a 'safeword' before sparring matches began. Still, few people wanted to spar with him more than once, even if he promised not to use Genjutsu during the fight). He'd memorised every bone in the human body, and their names and locations, memorised the entirety of every book on First Aid, stealth, or battle tactics he could find, and he began reading about poisons. His body was in a fairly fit condition, fit enough to run a few laps of the Academy's playground and complete a few sets of ten sit-ups, but when it came to actual fights, his specialisation was still firmly in the chakra-related arts. And he was still alone.

He visited the Konoha hospital, and with a great deal of adorable childlike enthusiasm, he told them that he wanted to become the best doctor ever and save everyone, and then asked for a tour and some free supplies. They refused, which he had partly expected. So, when nobody was looking, he decided to put what he'd learned to use. After all, he had given them a chance.

Konoha Hospital's had two storerooms, each only locked by a single padlocked metal door and a civilian janitor who Ryukatsu assumed was a disguised Ninja or former Ninja on patrol, but was actually just a civilian janitor mopping the floors. Ryukatsu assumed there was a hidden blade in the mop, but it was actually just a mop. Ryukatsu was an Ninja, it wasn't too hard to get a rock from outside and toss it, to get the janitor to look the wrong way while he silently slipped past. Ryukatsu had also read several books on lockpicking and locksmithing, so a cheap padlock held no challenge for him when he was armed with a hairpin he'd taken from one of Sasuke's fangirls while she was gazing longingly at Sasuke, oblivious to the rest of the world. Precisely why did that girl feel the need to carry so many different hairpins around at once? ...Irrelevant, he had a job to do. He did that job, and ended up casually jogging home with two small boxes of twenty scalpels each, along with two bottles of antivenom, five pairs of plastic gloves, a small microscope, a larger and more powerful microscope that became even more powerful when chakra was focused into it, and five plastic face-masks all stuffed into the many sealing scrolls inside sealing scrolls he carried with him. Everything else was left the way he'd found it. When the civilian Janitor saw the open door, he shrugged and assumed that some overworked doctor forgot to close the door. He closed it for that imaginary overworked doctor, and nobody ever suspected a thing.

Ryukatsu was tempted to hide the stolen goods somewhere in his room, then he decided they'd probably be safer hidden in his weapons-sealing scrolls. Nobody ever looked inside those, and legally speaking, nobody was allowed to look in them. He sometimes wondered if any other students took advantage of this, or if any non-ninja used these scrolls to hide contraband, alcohol, or adult magazines, but then he remembered something important: It didn't particularly matter, and he didn't really care.

Annoyingly, the Academy's curriculum barely touched Genjutsu. Ryukatsu had to research that on his own, and most books in the Konoha library spent their time and page-space warning about the dangers of Genjutsu, rather than offering up new and exciting Genjutsu ideas. It would seem he would have to come up with his own ideas... which he could do. After all, the books did say Genjutsu required intelligence, imagination and a strong mind. He was pretty sure he had all of those things.

After two months, he'd improved a lot. He gained a reputation, and became 'The creepy know-it-all'. He had yet to decide upon a more awesome nickname, epithet or moniker, but he had a few strong possibilities. He could use the Chakra exercises for water-walking and walking up trees, and began to develop a taste for reading books while upside-down. He was smart, well-read, and he had yet to answer a single question incorrectly on any written exam or any question he was asked. He attempted to learn Barrier Jutsu, but found that he didn't have the raw chakra reserves to keep any kind of reflective barrier going for more than a half-second, or make any reflective barrier larger than three feet squared on the palm of his hand. His throwing skills were average. He knew he had an Earth Affinity, because his father had Earth and Lightning(Specialising in Earth. Specifically, high-ranking wide-scale jutsu designed to affect the entire battlefield or large quadrants of it. His father was a tactician and strategist with a perfect record of over 30 successfully-completed A-Rank missions. Ryukatsu wanted to beat that record) and his mother had Earth and Fire, so he began learning and mastering various Earth Jutsu, rapidly working his way up the list. To him, learning a Jutsu meant being able to use it, and mastering a Jutsu meant practising it about ten times and getting good at using it, using his Chakra Control to reduce the Jutsu's total chakra cost. He'd mastered a C-Rank Genjutsu that made the user much harder to notice when not actively being searched for, and began practising an upgraded B-rank version for complete being-ignored invisibility. He theorised that he could pour in even more chakra, increase the Jutsu's power, and create an A-Rank version that was so powerful, he could activate it, punch someone in the face, and the target would get up thinking they'd tripped or been knocked over by a sudden gust of wind. If they managed to put two and two together and decided there must be an invisible Ninja after them, they'd still be unable to see them for a few minutes, which was a lot more time than Ryukatsu needed to defeat someone. Best of all, due to the way these jutsu affected the caster and put him in a shaped shell of raw chakra rather than affecting the targets and their ability to notice or perceive people matching his description, a Genjutsu Kai could not end the effects of the jutsu. Still, he'd rather use that jutsu as a backup-plan, one of the many aces he planned to amass. Most Ninja, typically Clan kids, tended to coast on one or two powerful Jutsu, never seeming to notice that they'd be completely scre- completely doomed if someone figured out how to negate their best Jutsu.

But he was still alone. He decided to change that.

Shogun wasn't an idiot. He knew ninjas were always assigned to three-man Genin squads with a Jonin sensei, and he knew the rules wouldn't be changed for anyone, no matter how much he'd rather have a full-scale Army under his command. Or at least more than two Ninja, and a Jonin that'd likely pull rank and ignore his strategies.

He knew what methods the Academy used to form teams, once he'd read about them in the library. First, they'd pair up ninjas with complimentary abilities(A slow but powerful guy with a fast guy, or one with grabbing/rooting abilities with someone with slow but powerful attacks, or a long-range specialist with a mid-range or close-range specialist), then they'd pair the worst Academy Student(Definitely Naruto... but then again... Most of Sasuke's fangirls were pretty terrible) with the best Academy Student(Probably Sasuke Uchiha, but Shino Aburame and possibly Shikamaru Nara seemed like they'd make pretty good Ninja) to balance them out, then they'd pair the friends, then the rivals, then they'd pair up whoever was left. Anyone on the Civilian Council could request certain ninja be placed together, but they usually squabbled over getting their kids paired up with the best young ninjas to pick up their slack, instead of rationally choosing and requesting the Shinobi whose personalities and abilities complimented their own, and it was rare for their petty squabbling to actually be taken into consideration when forming Ninja teams.

Ryukatsu didn't trust anyone's judgement but his own. After all, they were not as smart as him. Well... the current Hokage's intellect might come close... and Shikamaru was able to beat him at Shogi and Go(But not in debates, or anything physical, or anything chakra-related. Then again, Shikamaru didn't really get into contests like that often)... but that was it. As far as he was concerned, those were his only equals. Still, he doubted either of them could help him with this.

Ryukatsu would have to do something the young bookworm had never done before. He would have to make some friends.

He shivered just thinking about it. Still, he'd read a few books on people, how they worked, how they thought, how to control and manipulate them, how to throw parties and how to be a good leader. And then he'd read a few more books on how to act in public, how to be polite, how to be seen as a good person, and how to make people like you. He remembered his favourite character from a manga he'd just started reading, who never had any friends before the series began, and yet things turned out brilliantly for her. He could do this.

He saw Naruto Uzumaki, who his parents had told him to avoid. Ryukatsu had observed him like a true scientist and watched the dumb blonde fail every task he was given and incorrectly answer every question he was asked. He then quickly decided to stop observing Naruto before he lost his voice from laughing too hard, or lost any brain cells from standing too close. He turned and took a few steps away, just to be safe.

In the middle of the schoolyard, he thought for a moment, mentally bringing up the physical and psychological profiles of every classmate he'd observed and cross-referencing them with the traits and qualities he believed a Ninja on his team should have. When he'd decided on the few best choices, he approached his first viable target: a young, bored and lost-looking Genin with navy-blue hair in a slightly-curly center parting and sad hazel eyes, wearing a tight navy-blue shirt that matched his hair, dark black trousers with deep pockets, both literally and metaphorically. Hamada Suguira.

Ryukatsu stared at Hamada with a large smile on his face for a few moments before speaking. "Hey." Ryukatsu greeted casually.

"Hey." Hamada responded sadly.

Ryukatsu tensed up suddenly, realising he completely forgot to plan out the entire conversation ahead of time. Improvisation was not his strong suit. "MY NAME IS RYUKATSU AND I LIKE BOOKS." He declared stiffly.

"...Are you okay?" Hamada asked, tilting his head to the right.

"I'm fine." Ryukatsu said with a practised smile. Hamada's hesitation before asking if he was okay gave him all the time he needed to think up a few possible angles to work with. "How are things?"

"Uh... Good, I guess." He shrugged, deciding to completely forget about Ryukatsu's strange outburst. It was probably the stress. Ninja training was hard.

"You're Hamada Sugiura, right?" Ryukatsu asked conversationally, though with a glimmer of eagerness a well-trained Ninja could have noticed. "Mediocre ninja, your dad has a seat on the Civilian Council, you're afraid of spiders, and you doubt you'll ever even graduate from the Academy... Which is exactly what you want, right?"

"Wha- How do you know that?!" Hamada demanded, getting into a boxing stance.

"I know stuff." Ryukatsu said with a creepy smile that suggested he knew a lot more. "Anyway, you don't want to be their political toy. You want to fail, get kicked out of the Academy, and become a lame, lazy noble just like the rest of your family. You were probably only made a Ninja so you could be one of their political tools, something to give their words more weight in the Civilian Council. 'My son's a Ninja, so therefore I know what I'm talking about, so listen to me and only me!'. Yeah, like that'll work. However... What if I told you there was a better way? Rather than relying on your parents, you join my team, become a great Shinobi, do a bunch of assassination missions, get bounties, leave your family behind and get even more money than them?"

"Why do you want me on your team?" Hamada asked bitterly, thinking of all the girls he'd tried to talk to, only for them to want Sasuke instead. The Uchiha's inheritance and clan coffers vastly outweighed his own. "Why not _Sasuke-Kuuun_?"

"Do you honestly see that guy following my orders any time soon?" Ryukatsu asked with a chuckle. "I respect his skill and all, but I don't want a loose cannon who thinks he knows better than me, and won't respect the magic of f- the value of teamwork. Besides, he'll be stuck with that idiot Naruto and one of his lame Fangirls. Do not want. On the other hand, a team with me as the head, you as the muscle and someone else as the support might actually do pretty well."

Hamada straightened up a little. "Maybe, but... I doubt the price of a few cutpurse's lives will even approach the riches my parents have."

"Most A-Rank and S-Rank Missing-Nin have bounties exceeding 100,000 Ryo. If we got them all... Imagine how rich we'd be!" Ryukatsu said excitedly. "Imagine how rich you'd be! Why pretend to be their perfect son and deny who you are, when you can become a great man and get more money than they ever will!"

"I don't know..." Hamada said uncertainly.

"Imagine the girls! The ladies!" Ryukatsu said desperately.

"Girls?" Hamada asked, suddenly interested.

Ryukatsu grew more confident as he saw an opening. He settled into his rhythm, attacking that point as vigorously as he could. "The girls love rich guys, the books said so. All the girl's romance novels star average girls who rich guys fall in love with. But in guy's romance novels, he's an awesome guy who falls in love with a lame woman who needs him to fight bandits for her, or an average guy who falls in love with a poor girl that can't even afford takeaway food fees most of the time. I still don't understand why. But I do understand that I'm great... and you can be, too. Just join me."

"But... I don't want to fight bandits." He said nervously.

"I'll protect you." Ryukatsu said with a smile. "After all, there is no force in this world greater than my ego! And come on, I'm a Chakra specialist."

"You mean 'Ninjutsu Specialist?'" Hamada asked.

"Nope. I'm a Genjutsu Specialist, with a lot of chakra control that'd probably be good for Medical Jutsu. But, there's no reason I can't train my body and learn a bunch of Ninjutsu anyway." He smiled, closed his eyes, and shrugged. "Taijutsu is easy, you're literally just hitting and kicking a thing. Even that idiot Kiba can do it. I honestly can't understand why everyone isn't at least somewhat competent at it."

"Hey! Taijutsu is complicated!" Hamada insisted.

"Yeah, sometimes you kick stuff... while spinning!" Ryukatsu gasped sarcastically. "And sometimes you punch something... then you punch it again with the other hand!" He chuckled, and then he asked, "...Speaking of Jutsu, what can you do?"

"Not much. I'm slow, I don't like running, I have anger issues... honestly, I'm amazed I even got this far." He admitted sadly.

"You don't seem like someone with anger issues." Ryukatsu pointed out. "You just seem like a sad, lonely kid who needs a hug, a big sword, and a better hairstyle."

"A sword? I'm a ninja, not a Samurai." Hamada mumbled.

"Why not both?" Shogun asked, smiling. "A Ninjai. Or a Samunja! Or a Ninjamurai! Or everything! You can buy a bunch of weapons, and swing them at your opponent until you win! And explosive tags! Who knows how many explosive tags you can buy? And use? Academy Students aren't allowed to buy Explosive Tags without an adult or Jonin Sensei present, but I can Henshin no Jutsu into anyone you want for that. In return, you'll buy my stuff, too. But think of the money we'll make! You can spend a little of your parents' money on gear, then make your own money with it! And, you can be yourself. ...And you can get all the girls you want. Chicks dig power. And money."

"Chicks? Alright, I'm in!" Hamada said eagerly. "Where do we start?"

"Well, we just need a girl to join our team, because all Ninja teams have two guys and one girl or two girls and one guy, and then we can begin the super-epic hardcore adventure of awesomeness. Better yet..." He said, and then said in a manlier voice, "We can begin our journey to greatness!"

"How about... that pink-haired chick?" Hamada offered.

"Sakura Haruno? Let me recommend a book titled Two-point-five Billion Shades of NO!" Shogun laughed. "She's lame, violent, and I can smell the crazy on her from a mile away. Literally, I'm a Sensor-Nin, and the whole 'Inner Self' thing she's got going on is pretty unhealthy. It makes one wonder how much of herself she's repressed in order to become what _Sasuke-Kuuuun_ would see as attractive, if the repressed parts of her psyche have actually manifested as a Kaiju-sized chalk drawing of herself. I wonder if it talks to her. I wonder if she talks back to it. I wonder if it could be used to defend herself from Genjutsu or a mind-based attack from a Yamanaka. I wonder if she has nightmares where it beats her to a near-death state, and then Sasuke comes and saves her by kicking its butt. I wonder if she considers this to be a good dream. Anyway, moving on... She's 'intelligent', in the sense that she can remember pointless trivia, and answer questions with the 'morally good' nonsense that the instructors have already decided is the 'correct' answer. And she can repeat the answers fed to her on written exams. But ask her to play Shogi with you, and she'll lose. Ask her to spar, and she'll say no. I don't need a walking folder full of trivia, I'm smart enough on my own. I want Pawns, Knights, Rooks and Bishops that'll follow my orders! and a Queen! For the record, those are chess pieces. It's like the way-better foreign version of Shogi they play overseas. My parents have some contacts overseas, and we love a good game, even though the pieces have stupid names. Anyway, Sakura's on a diet, even though she's a Shinobi and she should be eating more and working out instead of trying, and failing, to attract the attentions of a certain classmate. And she should try to become an awesome Ninja in her won right, not some lame loser who'll get saved by her teammate 24/7 until he eventually gets tired and 'Accidentally' doesn't manage to save her in time. I don't want a lame loser like that!"

"Come on, she's not that bad, right?" Hamada asked.

"At her current rate, she'll be almost completely flat when she grows up." Ryukatsu stated flatly.

"On the other hand, how about the blonde girl, Ino?" Hamada said suddenly, having completely lost all interest in Sakura. "She's cute."

"And already spoken for." Ryukatsu sighed. "Even though her mind-related Jutsu would be really useful for interrogation and mind-control, she'll be stuck with that idiot Chouji and his lazy boss Shikamaru."

"Well, uh... who else is there?" Hamada asked. "Those are the only ones whose names I remember."

"Possibly because they're the loudest?" He chuckled. "Anyway, the only other girls are Hinata- Which I do not want, she's shy and soft even though she's from the Hyuuga Clan, which is an unusual contradiction in itself. I'll be her friend or whatever, but she can't join my team. She's Hyuuga, she'll know Jyuuken and only Jyuuken, just like all the others. No room to customise or make improvements. She can't be the Queen to my King."

"Woah, dude, that's the weirdest-sounding thing you've said so far. These aren't... dolls you can just... sew new heads onto, if you don't like the heads they have now!" Hamada insisted. "These are real people!"

Ryukatsu only smiled in response. "You have a doll, don't you?"

"...Yes." Hamada said sadly, ashamed, his previous objection forgotten.

"I'm okay with it." Ryukatsu said. "There's a lot of things I'm okay with. But I'm not okay with lameness. Hyuugas are lame. They all only know Jyuuken. Once you've fought one, you might as well have fought them all. Once you Genjutsu them, you set them on fire, and they're screwed. Actually, I'm pretty sure the Plural is Hyuuga, but I don't care. If I'm going to win a Chess game using only three pieces, they need to be good pieces."

"What the heck is chess?" Hamada asked.

"I already told you! It's the foreign version of Shogi, they play it overseas!" Ryukatsu snapped, and then noticed he'd just snapped in public. "...I mean... uh... Anyway, back to the task at hand... Hinata wouldn't be a good match for our team. Her Byakugan would be useful for being a living radar, and maybe her Jyuken would be useful for diabling opponents and performing nonlethal takedowns, but that's about it. But I'm a Sensor-Nin, I'm already a living radar. It works on feeling presences and sensing chakra instead of sight, so I can't see who the enemies are, I just know where they are and what they are, so I guess it's not really as good. But all things have chakra, even inaminate objects, even though only Ninja can really use it properly. Still... whatever. Moving on... I don't really want a Clan Kid, I want an unaffiliated Shinobi I can make into a weapon worthy of serving myself and Konoha. And get your mind out of the gutter, she doesn't need to love me, or even like me. She just needs to complete missions with me, and she needs to not die while on those missions. That's all. For the record, I already have a crush on someone, and she's not in this year."

"Well, uh... What other girls are there?" Hamada asked uncertainly."They're the only ones whose names I remember, and only because they have the best hair."

"In what world does that technicolour eyesore have-MOVING ON... Ryukatsu Shogun wondered, snapped, and then he returned to his thinking. "How about one of Sasuke's fangirls?"

"No way, they like Sasuke." Hamada shrugged.

"Good. Having personal relations with a teammate would just complicate matters." Ryukatsu decided. "Okay, "

_And now for the third... _Ryukatsu thought, charging chakra into his eyes to sharpen his vision, his eyes scanning the playground as he widened his third eye, which checked the chakra of everyone he saw. Nobody really stood out to his third eye at first, but to his physical eyes...

_That one._ He thought, all of his eyes zooming in on her.

Her long straight dark hair was pulled into a single loose ponytail at her back with a horizontal fringe at the front of her face like a ponytailed version of a hime-cut, her arms were folded over her slim chest, her purple eyes were dark and serious, and her Shinobi Headband was tied around her hips like a belt. She was wearing a simple black dress with four seams along the front, back and sides, to allow her legs full range of movement while still looking like she was wearing a dress. Concealed by her dress(But not concealed to his chakra-sight), there was a kunai holster strapped to her left and right upper leg. He could tell from the ripped pattern that she'd made that dress's leg-seam herself with a kunai, and she looked... different from the other fangirls. Less angry/obsessive, but more... forceful? Regardless, he sensed a strength within her, a strength few others in the nearby area had. ...What was her name again?

"Her." Ryukatsu decided, and walked towards her. Hamada followed.

When they reached her, Hamada spoke first while Ryukatsu was still thinking of what to say. "Hey, are you using Ninjutsu? Because that smile is glowing." Hamada flirted with a cheesy smile.

She immediately went on the defensive, unfolding her arms and bending her right arm over her chest as if holding an invisible kunai. "What the heck are you talking about? You'd better not be trying to flirt with me, alright? My heart belongs to Sasuke."

Ryukatsu Shogun facepalmed. "Let me do the talking, Hamada." He sighed. He then looked at the girl, smiled, and asked, "Hey, Ari Shinkiro, do you want Sasuke?"

"Well, duh!" The girl, Ari Shinkiro, snapped.

"Why?" Shogun asked, genuinely curious.

"What do you mean, why?" She asked in rage. "It's because he's only the fastest, strongest, hottest, most skillful, darkest and most badass Shinobi avenger OF ALL TIME! And by the way, it's just Shinkiro."

Ryukatsu's smile didn't change in the slightest. _Yeah, I've got my work cut out for me here. _Shogun thought ruefully. _Still, the wanting-a-badass thing isn't that bad a reason... Meh, I can work with this._ "I'm Ryukatsu Shogun, and I'm a genius. A real genius, not just some kid with a bloodline and a few high-rank Jutsu. This is Hamada, he has money. What's your name, and why are you good enough for Sasuke?"

"Because I love him more than anyone else, that's why." She pouted, folding her arms.

"Do you think that's enough for him?" Ryukatsu asked conversationally. "If he is the greatest, then why would he want some lame fangirl?"

"L-LAME?! What would you know about love?!" She snapped.

"I know everything. Plus, I'm a guy, I know how guys think." Ryukatsu said, willfully ripping off every bad romance novel he'd ever read(Out of pure scientific curiosity, really! Totally not out of a desire to know what love is) for that line and genderflipping it to fit the context.

"Alright, what do you want?" Shinkiro asked suspiciously. "If you're gonna help me get what I want, there must be some kind of catch."

"Join my team, train hard, and surpass him. I want my teammates to he unstoppable. Also... if you beat Sasuke in a sparring match, he will love you forever."

"That's not what I was told!" She protested, frowning. "I heard he likes meek, submissive loser civilian ladies who'll raise all eight of his Uchiha kids while he's out on missions."

Ryukatsu burst into laughter, and her frown deepened. "Who told you that obvious lie?! Sasuke doesn't like lame losers like that! He likes hot, badass Kunoichi in ANBU outfits who will help him avenge his family BEFORE he can make a new one. On his list of priorities, avenging ranks way, way way higher than restoring his Clan. He wants equally badass Kunoichi to help him hunt down Itachi. And then, after you both kill Itachi, overcome with passion and the rush of victory, you grab him and pick him up with one hand, pin him up onto a nearby tree or wall or whatever and you kiss him. Then you tie him up, take him to the ANBU Interrogation Rooms, put him on the table and... Well, you've read enough romance novels to know where this is going."

"He likes that?!" She asked in shock. "And yeah, that sounds nice, but... but... everyone was so sure-"

"Everyone is an idiot. One is smart. Two are smart, if they're listening to the One. Three can be smart, if they listen to the One. But everyone is an idiot." He said. "Become an awesomely hot Kunoichi that can kick Sasuke's butt with one arm tied behind her back, so it'll mean something when you do 'do the do'. ...Heh heh, 'Doo doo'."

Ryukatsu seemed completely unfazed by what he was saying, and Hamada couldn't help but wonder where he'd read about that stuff.

"Plus, if you do submit to him, it'll mean way more." Ryukatsu said, almost as an afterthought.

"Hang on, how do you know all this stuff on romance?" Shinkiro asked curiously. "you're a guy."

"The library's age restrictions don't apply to Ninja. Apparently, if you're old enough to buy kunai with pocket change and toss it into someone's heart on a battlefield, you're old enough to read adult books about love, and romance, and boring stuff like that. Except sometimes it gets way more varied, way more interesting, and way less boring."

"And when you say 'more varied'..." Shinkiro pressed uncertainly, clearly dreading the answer, but needing the confirmation that her suspicions were correct.

"They do weird stuff before or during it, to mix things up. Like this one time, this chick tied herself to the ceiling with chakra rope and then she used the rope to grab the guy's-"

"I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!" Shinkiro shouted, clutching her hands to her head over her ears as she shook her head.

"I kinda want to know." Hamada admitted, smiling sheepishly.

"Heh heh heh..." Ryukatsu chuckled. "So, what do you say? Are you ready to become a badass?" extending his right arm for a handshake.

She took her hands from her head, stood up, and with fire in her eyes and a confident smile, she shook his hand. "I'm in." She said firmly.

"Now that your diet's out of the window, you can eat whatever you want. And Hamada here is freaking rich, so we can eat anything. His parents are paying. So, want to get something to eat after school?" Ryukatsu offered.

"Hell yes." She agreed. "All-you-can-eat buffet?"

"You know it!" Ryukatsu laughed.

"So, what now?" Hamada asked.

"Now," Ryukatsu said with a pleasant smile on his face, "Drop and give me ten."

"Huh?" Hamada asked.

"Ten push-ups, now!" Ryukatsu yelled furiously, dropping to the ground and following his own orders. They quickly complied, struggling slightly when they got to number eight, ruining their form and negating their final two. They got up, and Shogun waited ten seconds to let them catch their breath before demanding, "Ten more! Now!"

"When we're done with this, sit next to me in class." Ryukatsu ordered, once they were done. "Now give me ten more!"

"You're insane!" They shouted.

"Oh, am I?" Ryukatsu asked in amusement, and then laughed evilly, using his laughter to cover up how he was already panting, even though he was using chakra to reinforce and empower his own body.

Later that night...

Ryukatsu was alone at the library, as usual, two neat and very large stacks of books on either side of him. Hamada and Shinkiro were exercising at home.

"Huh. Well, isn't that something." Ryukatsu said, surprised. He stopped flicking through the book he was reading, and stared at that specific page for a moment. It was a book on psychological conditioning, and it mentioned something about a 'Switch'. A 'Killswitch', to be precise. A technique where, through meditation, the user created a switch inside their mind tied to their emotions. When the Killswitch was on, the user's morality and restraint was turned off. This allowed a Shinobi to act unimpeded by moral codes or guilt or mental limits while on the field, without suffering any mental damage. He could do anything he wanted while his emotions were switched off, and be a completely healthy Shinobi when the mission was over and he was back in the village. Ryukatsu grinned, flicked through the rest of the book, and began practising that technique. He was smart, and his mental health was paramount. Crazy people often made stupid mistakes.

He began meditating, and had this technique down after half an hour of solid meditation.

Ryukatsu decided to test it out on his way home, when he saw a stray Alley Cat, which hissed at him. It was an ugly grey thing with matted fur, and it often scratched other kids. He closed his eyes, switched off his emotions, and felt everything melt away...

He pulled a single metal Shuriken from his pockets and flung then at the cat. The cat jumped back to avoid the thrown weapon-

Ryukatsu threw another shuriken, much quicker than the last one, spinning quickly in the air. Like a rotating sawblade, it tore right through the cat and struck the wall behind it.

As if it meant nothing at all, Ryukatsu picked up the used Kunai and put them back into his pockets to wash off later. A quick toss of an Immolation Tag burned away all the evidence that the cat ever existed. He walked home, and blinked as he flipped his Killswitch off and felt his emotions come back.

Ryukatsu's eyes widened as his mind returned to normal. He knew he'd just killed a cat in cold blood, but he couldn't find it within him to care, even though he wanted to. He normally liked cats, and all animals, but this... didn't matter at all to him. He could still feel, and now he was a little concerned about how he didn't feel anything... And then he got over it. The technique worked exactly as it should have. He had mastered yet another jutsu. He wondered if his teammates were making as much progress as him. He decided to step up their training the next time he saw them, just in case. Maybe something with training weights, like his books recommended.

Later...

A twelve-year old Ryukatsu Shogun strode confidently into the Academy's examination room, for today was his day. Today was the day everyone would be assigned to a team. He and his teammates had been working hard, and they had all changed their appearance a great deal. Ryukatsu's rosewood hair had been grown out to neck-length and pushed back and around, away from his face and out of his field of vision. He had an unbuttoned doctor's labcoat that was a bit loose on him, revealing a replica of a stab-proof black Chunin flak vest, replica ANBU steel arm-guards on his arms that were extended to cover his elbows as well, loose black tracksuit pants, one belt upon which he had four large black hip-pouches, an extra-wide pouch at his back, and a single katana in its sheath all linked to the same belt, two extra belts crossed over the main belt with two extra black pouches attached to each extra belt's side, and thick rubber boots with 'Steel-toe caps'(A metal-reinforced toe section, between the layers of rubber). The books said that ordinary Shinobi were supposed to wear sandals, but he never liked sandals. Besides, his new boots were insulated against electricity, they had more grip than an average sandal, and they had a high melting point. And while they couldn't be seen, he also had two five-pound weights on each leg, two five-pound weights strapped to his arms, he had seals inside the pockets of his trousers, his Leaf Village Headband was tied around his right bicep, and he was also wearing a protective black plastic cup over his white underwear. Everything he wore was for practicality, the added coolness was an unintentional side benefit.

Right behind him was the team's muscle, Hamada, now dressed how they imagined a badass version of a noble lord would dress. His hairstyle had changed, his center-parting had a fringe at the front and his blue hair was now in rows of small spikes like a bird's feathers. He was dressed in a dark blue flak vest to match his hair, and he had a black shirt on beneath. He wore rounded aerodynamic five-inch-thick steel shoulderpads to give the illusion of his shoulders being bigger than they actually were, and he wore dark black trousers with steel kneecaps. He had four bags at his hip on a similar belt to Ryukatsu's main belt, but with no wider fifth bag at the back. Instead, strapped to his back, he had a sharp and regal seemingly-golden(But actually Steel affected by weaponsmithing jutsu to make it appear golden, because gold was actually a really, really terrible weapon to make weapons with) two-headed great axe, inscribed with small silver seals which ran down the weapon's central pole, and had two large silver seals on both flat sides of the weapon's two bladed heads. The weapon was very expensive, and worth every penny, even if it was currently far too heavy for him to use properly. Ryukatsu assured him he'd soon effortlessly be able to swing it one-handed, but right now he could barely swing the thing in a straight line. Hidden beneath his trousers, he had one five-pound weight strapped to each leg and a five-pound weight strapped to each wrist.

And then, the third. Ari Shinkiro. Her long dark hair was unchanged, and her new Shinobi Headband was tied around her forehead. She was dressed almost exactly like a female ANBU BlackOps operative, with black cloth gloves that almost reached her shoulders, metal armour on her arms, a neck and chest covered in similar black fabric and a thick grey flak vest, dark grey trousers with large pockets marked with three weapon seals inside each pocket, and black hardened-leather dress shoes. While they couldn't be seen, she also had a five-pound weight strapped to each leg and a two-point-five-pound weight on each wrist, and she kept two mall sharp blades hidden inside the interior of her shoes.

The three made sure to sit right next to each other, right in front of where Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji were sitting, with Ryukatsu at the center in front of Shikamaru, Hamada at his right in front of Chouji, and Shinkiro at his left in front of Ino. Ryukatsu had them sit there almost every day for the last few years, hoping this would further reinforce the 'These three Shinobi should be teammates' vibe he wanted to give out.

"Hey, where'd you get those clothes?" Ino asked suddenly.

"From a store." Shinkiro said bluntly.

"Hey, Ino, you own a flower shop, right?" Ryukatsu asked suddenly, turning around and getting her attention before Ino could respond.

"Yeah, why?" Ino teased. "Looking to buy something for a 'special someone'?"

"I don't have any of those." He stated flatly. "I do have a crush on someone, but she doesn't like flowers. And she's not from this year. Anyway, many poisons are made from flowers. I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me take a look at your store some time?"

"Sure, but they're not free." She insisted.

"Give him what he wants." Shinkiro said.

"She already has." Ryukatsu said, turning back to face the front of the class. "Now, when is Iruka going to get here?"

There was a pause. "Wait, you have a crush on someone?" Ino asked, blinking in surprise. "Who is it?"

"I will not tell you." Ryukatsu stated.

"Is it-" Ino began.

"I will not tell you." Ryukatsu repeated with exactly the same tone and inflection. Ino frowned.

"There's only eleven possibilities to begin with." Shikamaru sighed to Ino, opening his eyes slightly and looking down. "If-

"If she doesn't like flowers, that rules out Ino and Sakura." Ryukatsu interrupted, a small smile forming on his face. "And most of the girls here. They all like flowers for some reason. Meaning there's only four possibilities left. You could cross-reference the personalities of

those girls with what little you know about me to weed out the most obvious of the unlikely candidates, then list whoever's left, and examine my reaction to hearing their names, narrowing down the list of possibilities and hoping you get lucky. That might work. If I were the type to react to something so obvious and give away any information, I mean. Besides, that's just too much of a drag... Right, Shikamaru?" Ryukatsu said as his smile grew wider, becoming the smirk of a cat playing with a caught mouse. "But then, you don't care at all, do you? Besides, if you get Ino interested enough, she'll follow me in the hopes of finding clues you can use to deduce who my crush is. Not a wise move, considering how I feel about prying eyes." His smile grew into a wide grin. "Then again, do I have a crush on anyone to begin with? You have no evidence I even have a crush on anyone at all. I might just be screwing with you... for fun."

"...What a drag." Shikamaru sighed.

"What fun." Ryukatsu responded cheerfully. "But hey... If Ino was halfway-competent at her Yamanaka family jutsu, she could attempt to read my mind."

"Hey! Even my dad didn't get that jutsu down until he was fifteen!" Ino protested furiously.

"Like I said..." Ryukatsu said as Iruka-Sensei entered the room, pausing to make sure he got the last word. "Halfway competent."

Right behind Iruka-Sensei, there was Naruto, in a Shinobi headband.

"Hm?" Ryukatsu gave a hm of mild surprise, noticing Naruto was wearing a Shinobi headband. ...Iruka-Sensei's headband. _There are only a few ways this could be possible... _Ryukatsu thought. _After eliminating the impossible and considering the two most likely courses of events... either Naruto stole Iruka-Sensei's headband and Iruka is pretending to not notice... but why... ah. Iruka gave Naruto his own headband out of pity, so he can spend one day pretending to be a real ninja. Or... there's more to this dumb brute than that which meets the eye... and he's earned the right to become a Genin._

"Iruka-Sensei? Naruto is wearing a village headband. Is he a Genin?" Ryukatsu asked.

"Yes, he is." Iruka said proudly. "Naruto Uzumaki has officially earned the rank of Genin."

"Huh." Ryukatsu said, barely even surprised. Internally, he was thanking his lucky stars he wouldn't end up on a team with that dumb blonde. Then again... If he could become a Genin, there was probably something new he'd picked up. Perhaps he'd mastered a jutsu that could compensate for his lack of skill? Or spontaneously unlocked some kind of ridiculously-overpowered Kekkei Genkai that would necessitate being promoted to ANBU Captain at a record-breakingly fast rate? "Is this temporary? Or has he earned this, for real?"

"Yeah, I earned this! I'm a real Genin, permanently! Believe it!" Naruto shouted.

"A permanent Genin, you say?" Ryukatsu said with a sly grin. "That wouldn't surprise anyone here."

There was a short pause, and then everyone burst into laughter. "Wait, no, I meant-" Naruto stammered. "I'm not gonna be a Genin forever! I'm gonna be Hokage some day! Believe it!"

"Is that so?" Ryukatsu asked, amused. "Well then... Gooood luck with that. If you do become Hokage, would you mind pulling rank and making me the head of... whatever I decide to be head of, at the time?"

"Depends on how much I like you, at the time." Naruto said, narrowing his eyes.

"How irritating." Ryukatsu muttered. "Ah, well, it probably won't matter in the end. You see... I plan on becoming something greater than a Kage."

"And what would that be, huh?" Naruto asked skeptically. "Nothing's greater than the Hokage!"

"I plan on becoming... The Daimyo." Ryukatsu stated with a small, confident smile, his eyes focusing on some far-off point in the distance, something that nobody else could see. "The ruler of all of Hi no Kuni, everything in The Land of Fire, the ultimate ruler of the greatest, largest and most economically prosperous nation on this continent. It may not have the most military strength... but I will change that soon enough. One Ninja may be equal to an army... But I am equal to an unstoppable military campaign."

"Huh? But you're not nobility, you can't become a Daimyo!" Sakura protested.

Ryukatsu stopped, turned slowly, and stared at her. "Do you think I don't know this?" He asked quietly.

"Oh crap." Hamada whispered, eyes widening. Shinkiro smiled, and then stopped smiling when she remembered they were in the middle of a classroom right now.

"Do you only exist to point out the obvious?" Ryukatsu asked Sakura, stretching his fingers outwards and back, then clenching his fists, then stretching his fingers again.

"Uh..." Hamada said, quickly looking around the room in panic. His eyes settled on Naruto's headband. "Hey, Naruto, you've got a headband! How'd that happen?"

"The details of Naruto's promotion are an E-Class Secret." Iruka stated. "However, he or any Jonin can share them with anyone they like."

"Only an E-Class secret?" Ryukatsu said, surprised as he looked away from Sakura and looked back at Iruka. "There are no legal penalties for those."

"Because it's not much of a secret, really." Iruka said. "A fellow Chunin betrayed the village and attempted to steal a Forbidden Scroll while disguised as Naruto Uzumaki. The real Naruto assisted me in defeating and capturing that enemy ninja. That is all."

"...That's all?" Ryukatsu asked, a little disappointed. He then smiled and joked, "If I knew I could have skipped the Academy by hunting down a traitor, I would have done that long ago!"

* * *

Their new Jonin Sensei was a stocky and solidly-built man with cold grey eyes, short sharp brown hair, and a brown five-o-clock-shadow for a beard. He was dressed in the usual ANBU uniform, black cloth with metal plates, and he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else but here. They met him in Training Ground Nine, a wide arena of hardened dirt surrounded by grass and trees.

He looked at each Genin in turn, completely unimpressed by what he was seeing. When he saw Shinkiro's ANBU-inspired Ninja outfit, his mood soured even more.

"Alright, kids, listen up good, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once." Their potential Sensei growled. "My name... No, my codename is Kawasaki Kurogane, and that is what you will call me. Use whichever name you want, I don't care. I look at you three kids, and do you know what I see? I see a nerd that thinks he's some kind of Genius, a rich idiot that's just waiting to be robbed, and a little girl that doesn't just think she can hack it as a Ninja, but she actually thinks she's good enough to wear an ANBU outfit. So, here's how this is gonna go." He settled down into a fighting stance. "You three are gonna fight me. And if you beat me... I'll be your Sensei. If not, I'll send you back to the Academy, where you can try again with a different Sensei next term."

"What?!" Hamada asked, suddenly outraged. "How the hell are we supposed to do that?!"

"You can't." Kawasaki stated flatly, as if it was an absolute fact. "I used to be an Assassin in the ANBU BlackOps. But they took me out, because they wanted me to teach some bratty kids."

"They'd only do that if you were the worst ANBU they had." Ryukatsu stated. "Or if they thought being around kids would be good for you."

"...Okay, new plan." Kawasaki said. "Everyone, beat the crap out of Ryukatsu. I'll promote you all to Genin if you make him bleed."

"Don't do it, it's a trap!" Ryukatsu said quickly.

"Hell no!" Shinkiro snapped. "Ryukatsu is our leader, and he's our leader for a reason!"

"Only the worst pieces of crap on this world, or any world, would gang up on their own friend just because he pissed off their boss, and that boss decided to abuse his power like that!" Hamada shouted.

Ryukatsu paused for a moment, surprised at what they were saying. Were they that loyal to him already? He decided this would be a perfect opportunity to rub it all in his Sensei's face."Your obvious trap has failed." He stated. "I can see why you aren't in ANBU any more."

"It wasn't a trap, it was a teamwork test." Kawasaki growled. "Mostly. A colleague of mine had failed all the teams he'd been given with something like that, so I decided to rip him off. And change things up, because I don't have the time for any of that crap. By the way, you pass part two. Part one: Defeat me in a fight."

Shinkrio and Hamada looked at Ryukatsu, waiting for his response. After a few oments of thinking, he had made his decision.

"Okay, challenge accepted." Ryukatsu said.

"What?" Hamada asked in horror.

"We're likely to be forced to fight enemies much, much stronger than you, so you should make a nice warm-up." Ryukatsu chuckled, raising a hand to stroke his chin. And then he flung that hand towards Kawasaki, as if thowing a Kunai at him. "Team... Get ready!"

_Is he serious?_ Shinkiro wondered. _Is he really going to have us take on a former ANBU, even though we're fresh out of the Academy? That's insane! Even he can't-_

A memory flashed through her mind.

_Ryukatsu smiled. "I can achieve anything I can set my mind to... because I have the greatest mind in the world. Hamada, you desire money, status, nobility. And Shinkiro, you desire love. I can get you everything you desire... if you serve me."_

The memory over, her concentration returned to the present day. _That day..._ Shinkiro thought. _I'm not sure why, but his presence, the aura of power he exuded, the absolute sureness in his voice... it felt like I was making a deal with the-_

Kawasaki folded his arms and frowned down at them. "Alright, brats, get on with it." He said, catching Shinkiro's attention and bringing her back to reality. He'd made his decision, and they were going to fight their potential Sensei. Shinkiro got ready to fight, banishing her earlier fe- earlier surprise, now looking forwards to testing her skills against a former ANBU Ninja.

"Gladly. Hamada, Shinkiro, charge!" Ryukatsu ordered. "Position Two!"

"Right!" His teammates chorused, and the two charged forwards at their Sensei. Hamada sped up as Shinkiro slowed down a little and got behind him, and the two charging ninjas fell into step together, ready to carry out the plan known as Position Two.

Kawasaki stood there, waiting, curious to see what they would do.

When they reached their target, Hamada unclipped his axe from his back and swung it, trying to cleave his opponent in half, just above his hips. Kawasaki casually drew a kunai and deflected the weapon, sending it bouncing back to the ground. "No control at all." Kawasaki sneered, drawing his leg back for a quick kick at the weapon-user's head.

Shinkiro jumped up over her teammate, ready to perform a mid-air snap-kick at Kawasaki's face.

Given the choice between dodging the attack or kicking Hamada in the face only to get kicked in the face by a pre-teen Genin girl, he chose to dodge. He casually sidestepped, letting her kick at nothing, sail past him, then land. She turned and charged at him again, and he didn't move until she was within striking distance.

She drew two kunai knives and began stabbing straight forwards at him, with motions similar to the Hyuuga's Jyuken fighting-style. He dodged each one by leaning back or to the side, stepping back in time with her constant forwards frontal attacks. "What do you think you are, a Hyuuga?" Kawasaki asked, slightly amused. "Do you think stealing their style will save you, Kunoichi?"

"Not at all." She said, suddenly tossing her kunai knives forwards. He dodged them by using Shunshin no Jutsu, teleporting and reappearing about six feet to the right.

She reached into her right pocket, activated the sealing tag Ryukatsu had attached inside with a tiny amount of chakra, and pulled out a thick length of steel chain with a ten-pound iron ball at the end. She spread her feet and expertly began swinging the ball by its chain with her right hand, holding most of the chain with her left hand. She let go suddenly and launched the ball in front of her, aiming at his head.

He stepped to the side, letting the ball shoot past him and strike a tree with enough force to make a serious dent, splinters of fresh wood falling away from the impact. Kawasaki grabbed the chain and yanked it towards him suddenly, trying to pull the smaller girl with it, hoping to punch her in the face, to show her the weakness of chain weapons and why few Ninja still used them.

She let it go, and allowed him to have the weapon.

"Surrendering your weapon so easily?" Kawasaki chuckled. "I guess you didn't want to be 'The Old Ball And Chain' like most girls, huh?"

Ryukatsu frowned. _That joke was stupid._ He thought. _Is he trying to make her lose her composure? I'm pretty sure he'll have to do better than that._

"Burn in hell!" She shouted, outraged, performing the handseal required for activating explosive tags.

_Then again, maybe not._ Ryukatsu thought, and then noticed something. _Wait... She's using that?_

Kawasaki looked down, already suspecting what was about to happen, and saw a few jet-black markings on several metal rings near the chain's end, just like the chakra-infused seals on Explosive Tags. An explosion like that wouldn't harm steel, but it would certainly harm flesh.

He dropped his kunai and got a large green plastic cylindrical water canteen out of his pocket, effortlessly crushed it in his hand, went through a series of eight handseals and announced, "Water Prism Jutsu!".

The water rose up, a prism-shaped shield of moving water encased his whole body and began spinning around him at the same moment that the explosive seals on her chain weapon detonated. The blast washed over his watery shield with barely any effect.

The smoke cleared away, and Kawasaki released his jutsu, the water around him falling to the ground.

Hamada was suddenly right in front of him, axe raised high above his head. He swung his blade down, and Kawasaki casually sidestepped the blow. Hamada stopped the blade just before it hit the ground, the blade wobbling unsteadily, and he jumped back before any counterattack could be made.

"Are you two going to do all the work?" Kawasaki shouted. "Where's your leader?"

Ryukatsu inhaled deeply. "FINISH HIM!" Ryukatsu intoned with a grand sweep of his arm.

"Right!" His teammates said. Hamada adjusted his grip on the blade, holding it closer to the center so that he'd have better control over its swing, at the cost of less swinging power. Ari Shinkiro drew two more kunai.

"Wow, what leadership." Kawasaki said sarcastically, drawing a single kunai. "This team's definitely going places."

Hamada charged at him, swinging his axe down at his opponent's head. He blocked the huge axe with a single small kunai. His axe sunk into the kunai's metal and the weapons locked. Hamada fiercely pushed down, throwing all of his strength into the attack, trying to break the lock. Kawasaki didn't seem to be putting in any effort at all, but it was actually a lot harder than he would have liked. His kunai was pushed back a half-inch, and then it began to shake. "Not bad, kid." Kawasaki grunted.

Shinkiro charged at him from behind with a loud war cry, kunai knives at the ready. He snapped-kicked his leg back and kicked her in the chest, sending her tumbling back until she hit a tree about eight feet away. Kawasaki chuckled.

"You BRUTE!" Hamada roared, pushing down harder with all of his fury and hatred.

The older ninja's kunai was pushed back another half-inch. The ANBU growled, and began openly trying to push back. His Kunai started to slowly push his opponent's axe back, albeit with a great deal of effort.

Ryukatsu flung a Kunai aimed at Kawasaki's gut, which he dodged by using Shunshin no Jutsu, appearing a few feet to the right. Hamada's axe swung through nothingness and struck the ground, cracking the ground a little and getting stuck.

Just as Kawasaki was about to counter and attack Hamada, Shinkiro charged forwards for another attempt at a snap-kick aimed at Kawasaki's face. Ryukatsu took out two kunai with attached explosive tags and casually tossed them into the air either side of him, and he performed a single Bird handseal.

Suddenly, Hamada and Shinkiro disappeared, and two kunai with an attached explosive tag appeared in mid-air, right where the center of their bodies once was. Hamada and Shinkiro reappeared at Ryukatsu's side, a little disoriented from their sudden switch in positions. The explosive tags detonated, and he avoided the explosions by using Shunshin no jutsu to teleport ten feet back away from his explosives.

"Thank you, you've served your purpose." Ryukatsu said dramatically, walking in front of them. There was a limit to how many times Shunshin no Jutsu and Kawarimi no Jutsu could be used in a short period of time. "Stay here until I say otherwise, attack when I call your names."

"Got it." His two teammates said in chorus.

"Now, Kawasaki, it's time to show you what I can do!" Ryukatsu shouted and began his plan, and charged. "ZEEEEEEEEAAAHHH!" He shouted as he ran right at Kawasaki, charging chakra to his feet for a burst of speed.

Kawasaki smirked. "A simple charge?" He chuckled mockingly. "I expected better from a so-called 'genius'."

"SHUUT UUUUUP!" Ryukatsu roared, charging even more chakra to his feet and legs, so much that small fires of chakra flared up around his feet, his footprints burning for a few seconds before fading away.

Kawasaki, stood there, unimpressed. He was looking forward to letting this runt hit him, and letting him see what good that would do against a body like his. No matter how fast the kid was running before he punched, nothing could hurt him.

Kawasaki unfolded his arms when Ryukatsu was only five feet away from him, and time seemed to slow down. The rosewood-haired Genin jumped up, drawing back his right arm for a heavy punch, eyes flickering down and focusing at the center of Kawasaki's chest, showing exactly where the attack was going to be aimed. Kawasaki clenched his fists and tensed his chest muscles up, preparing for the attack-

A log, held sideways in mid-air, collided with Kawasaki's face, and Ryukatsu was now nowhere to be seen. The former ANBU member stumbled back as the log bounced off him, and fell to the ground at his feet.

"Are you sure you used to be in ANBU?" Ryukatsu's voice asked disdainfully from behind him. Kawasaki turned, and saw that the kid was standing about twelve feet away.

The ANBU immediately figured out what his student had done. He'd leapt at him, albeit at a rather fast(For a lowly Genin) speed, and used one of the basic jutsu every Academy Student was taught, Kawarimi no Jutsu/Substitution Jutsu, to substitute himself with a standard-issue Ninja Log. Because he was in motion, the log was now in motion instead, and it stuck in the chin. Clever, but ultimately pointless. It didn't even hurt that much. "Do you think one trick is enough to win-" Kawasaki began incredulously.

"Check." Ryukatsu said casually, and performed the single handseal required for detonating explosive tags.

The log exploded, kicking up a cloud of dust and sending splinters of wood flying outwards like senbon. Kawasaki was pushed back a few feet from the force of the blow, his feet skidding along the ground. When the dust settled, a lot of tiny splinters were embedded in his exposed skin, but instead of causing pain, they only seemed to annoy him. "HOW?!" Kawasaki demanded.

"Is it really so unlikely that I could hide explosives inside the log? It can't be that hard to slice a standard-issue Ninja Log in half and hollow it out a little, hide a few pieces of chakra-infused exploding tags inside, and glue the edges back together." Ryukatsu said.

Ryukatsu dashed forwards again, swinging a chakra-enhanced right hook at Kawasaki's face. It hit hard, moving the guy's head a little but not knocking him down. The Genin swung a left hook, with the same effect. He crouched down, charging four times as much chakra into his fists and lunging forwards with a harsh haymaker to the ANBU's diaphragm, knocking the wind out of the larger man and folding him over. Ryukatsu crouched back again and jumped up while delivering a powerful uppercut, pressing with the strength of his legs and arm, throwing his whole body and all of his chakra-enhanced strength into the attack. Kawasaki staggered a few steps back, and Ryukatsu jumped backwards and crossed his arms as he flexed his wrists, and then he suddenly had three Kunai with explosive tags attached in each of his hands. He swung his arms outwards and threw them all at the ANBU, aiming them at the older ninja's feet. The ANBU saw the attack, jumped up and back and he braced himself at the very moment Ryukatsu detonated his explosives, the shockwaves knocking him into the air. Kawasaki used chakra to reinforce his own body, so instead of getting scattered over a wide area, he was only flung upwards twelve feet into the air.

"Now!" Ryukatsu shouted. "Denial!"

Hamada looked at his axe uncertainly, trying to remember what he did during the Denial combination move, while Shinkiro dashed forwards, rapidly going through a set of six handseals. Kawasaki looked at the handseals she made, but didn't recognize any Jutsu that used the handseals she'd used. She drew two Kunai as she leapt up towards Kawasaki, who had stopped rising about twelve feet off the ground and began to fall. When she reached the peak of her jump, about eight feet off the ground, she flung both kunai at Kawasaki, both aimed at his gut. As the kunai sailed towards him, Kawasaki began to draw his hands together for a handseal-

A kunai glowing with blue chakra suddenly appeared, sinking deep into Kawasaki's right shoulder. Another one appeared, spiking through his lower arm, severing just about every important nerve. The kunai she'd originally thrown dissipated into thin air once they touched his gut, revealing themselves to be illusionary. A few seconds too late, he realised the handseals she'd made were unimportant, it was just a trick to get her to look at her hands. She'd sent a genjutsu through her finger, just like his old colleague used to do on occasion. Now, where did she learn that? Her file said she wasn't a Genjutsu specialist, and she didn't particularly have any real abilities or natural talents that stood out. All Cs across the board, like most Kunoichi these days, except for a barely-worth-mentioning C+ in speed. Regardless, with his arm now taken out of the picture, performing handseals and saving himself was now completely out of the question. "Denied." Ryukatsu stated, grinning viciously as his eyes widened.

Kawasaki landed face-first on the ground, and slowly got up, his arms hanging uselessly by his sides.

"You're already dead." Ryukatsu said ominously.

Kawasaki raised an eyebrow, as if to say, 'Seriously? Are you kidding me?'.

Then he noticed the Kunai sunk into the ground at his own feet, with five notes attached. Four notes had the black-ink symbol required for explosive tags, and the fifth was a similar-sized note that had 'Screw you' written on it in big black letters.

"Substitution jutsu!" Kawasaki barked, chakra flaring up around him as he forcibly cast the Substitution jutsu on himself and Ryukatsu. Normally, that jutsu only worked on inanimate objects, unless a huge skill/chakra difference was involved, or if the target consented to being teleported. The difference between an Ex-ANBU Jonin and a consenting Genin fresh out of the Academy who felt the Jutsu target him and decided to work with it was definitely a large enough gap. Kawasaki and Ryukatsu instantly teleported, switching places.

Completely unfazed and unsurprised, Ryukatsu casually tossed a Kunai into the air as if tossing fruit peel over his shoulder, and then performed the same handseal. The difference between a Genin with a lot of Chakra control putting all of his effort into the jutsu and an Ex-ANBU Jonin putting in hardly any effort at all was definitely a large enough gap. "Kawarimi no Jutsu." Ryukatsu said.

The two ninja switched places again, and then a kunai landed blade-first on Kawasaki's right shoulder, two inches entering his skin. He grunted from the pain, but refused to scream.

And then the explosive tags at his feet went off, and he did scream.

When the smoke cleared, Kawasaki was a mess. Clothing ripped and shredded, skin burned and even charred in some places. He angrily grabbed the kunai sticking out of his shoulder with his teeth and flung it away, ignoring the pain and the blood that started to leak from the wound. Chakra flared up around him as he howled in rage, and he charged right at Ryukatsu, the Genin that had put him through so much pain and humiliation.

"King in check." Ryukatsu stated as he got a black 500ml labelless glass container out of his right pocket, casually tossed it high up into the air, went through a set of six handseals and then slammed his palms to the ground. "Checkmate."

Just as Kawasaki got within six feet of Ryukatsu, and the thrown bottle fell down and became level with Kawasaki's hips about five feet in front of Ryukatsu, a seven-foot lance of earth erupted from the ground one foot in front of Ryukatsu and pierced the black bottle,

shattering it effortlessly on its path towards its real target. Thick black goo from the bottle coating the spike, it struck Kawasaki in the chest and shot right through him. And then, two spikes spread out from the spike's tip like a large pickaxe, making sure he couldn't push himself off.

Kawasaki screamed in unbearable agony as the black liquid entered his bloodstream.

"Can you feel that?" Ryukatsu asked eagerly. "Can you feel the poison searing at your insides?"

"YES, I CAN FEEL IT!" Kawasaki shouted at him, his face twisted with pain, wishing he could move his arms and use a Jutsu or try to crush the earthen spike with his bare hands, anything ti make the pain stop.

"But wait, I thought you were a former member of ANBU BlackOps!" Ryukatsu said in amusement. "I thought you were trained to resist pain!"

"I AM, DAMN IT!" He shouted. "This is a damn good poison, I'll give you that. What is this stuff?"

"I'll tell you if you make me Team Captain."

"...Fine." Kawasaki muttered, his curiosity overriding his pride.

"What was that? I don't think everyone heard you." Ryukatsu said.

"FINE!" He snapped. "Ryukatsu Shogun, you're Team Captain!"

"Do you agree to follow my orders, teach my team's members to the best of your abilities, make sure we take missions suited to our level, and most of all... get the hell over whatever your problem is?"

"Fine!"

"Say yes."

"YES!"

"Okay, do you want this antidote?" Ryukatsu asked, getting a similar-shaped peach-coloured jar out of his left pouch.

"Yes! Give it to me!" He demanded.

Ryukatsu put the vial back in his pouch, and smiled. "You're a moron, and you've been 'poisoned' with bacon-flavoured lubricant... with several dozen tablespoons of salt, chilli powder and black food-colouring added in. Honestly, I'm amazed you fell for it." Ryukatsu stated. He smiled. "...That was sarcasm, I'm not amazed at all. Hamada owes me Fifty Thousand Ryo."

"He's right, I do." Hamada said casually, trying not to look too upset. "But I don't care, that's barely pocket change to me!"

"YOU'RE GAMBLING?!" Kawasaki spluttered. "But-You-What... WHAT?!"

"I had the bottles with me all along, I just needed a chance to use them. And I'd already made the bet months ago, when I first told Hamada about it."

"Prove it." Kawasaki growled.

To prove it, he got the peach-coloured bottle out from his left pouch and removed the cork, then took a swig from it. He put the cork back in, and smiled. "Still delicious." He stated.

"Where did you get a bacon-flavoured-" Kawasaki began incredulously.

"I INVENTED IT!" Ryukatsu snapped. "At age 11. I was bored. And hungry. And I own the patent thanks to Hamada's help. If you want your chain weapons, armour, sword and sheath, or door hinges to taste like bacon, use it. If you use it for anything else, I will hate you forever."

"What kind of sword needs a lubricant to slide out properly?" Shinkiro asked, surprised that this, of all things, was what she was asking.

"The crappy third-rate discount kind." Ryukatsu said. "And... Old swords, I guess. Or anyone who thinks bacon-flavoured lube would be a good replacement for sword-polish. Oh, I remember the day I made the bet like it was yesterday..."

"Behold, the greatest weapon ever!" Ryukatsu Shogun boasted to Hamada in Training Ground Nine, holding up a small glass bottle of black liquid about the size of a syrup bottle. Shinkiro was in the trees, jumping from branch to branch, running laps around the area.

"Woah, cool! What is it?" Hamada asked, admiration shining in his eyes. "Does it blow up, like most of your stuff?"

"My stuff only blows up because I want it to." Ryukatsu insisted. "And because I like explosions. They're pretty. And cool. And pretty cool. And the ability to use something as chaotic and all-destroying and indiscriminate and clumsy as an explosion in a strategic manner is a sign of true genius. Anyway, as I was saying... Behold, the ultimate weapon... The deadliest poison known to ninja-kind! The second it enters an opponent's wound, it burns with incredible pain, and it just gets worse and worse with each second! A single drop could make a wild elephant uproot a tree, and then bludgeon itself to death with that tree,just to make the pain stop! It's made from the concentrated sap of ten thousand Bakakuso flowers, which can only be found deep in the forests of Kusokagure!"

"Wow that sounds pretty cool- Waaaaiiit a second..." Hamada said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes and pointing at Ryukatsu as he mentally translated the words Ryukatsu had just said. "You're just messing with me right now, aren't you?"

"Hamada, please." Ryukatsu said, shrugging and smiling.

Hamada's suspicious expression didn't let up. Ryukatsu waited for four more seconds, then decided he'd earned it.

"I made the whole thing up, it's just a bluff." Ryukatsu admitted with a chuckle. "But, it'll fool anyone. Because it hurts so much. And because I have the 'maaaaagical antidote' that can cure all their pain, right here. Anyone can endure pain, when they think there's no way to avoid it, or when it's a choice between pain and something they're not supposed to do. But given the choice between agonising pain and a precious antidote... what sane person would choose pain?"

"Right. Sure. If that's the poison, where's the 'Antidote' they'll do 'Anything' to get?" Hamada asked skeptically.

"You catch on quick." Ryukatsu said, impressed, as he got out his peach bottle of fake antidote. "This is the 'antidote'... A similar bottle with the label removed, now filled with peach-flavoured yoghurt. My favourite kind of yoghurt. I could have filled it with

burn salve, which looks similar and would probably be more believable, and would probably have a more believable medical-chemical-ish smell... but it doesn't really pour properly, or stick to weapons right. Victims would rather believe a miraculous peach goo saved them from death by black goo... And I'm pretty sure most people know burn salve when they see it or smell it."

"That's completely ridiculous. You won't fool anyone with that." Hamada said, folding his arms.

Ryukatsu smirked. "Have you no faith in me?" He asked.

Hamada unfolded his arms. "Come on, man, you know I believe in you. It's just... This seems kinda far-fetched, you know? Even for you."

"Then let's make a deal." Ryukatsu said, and a chill ran down Hamada's spine. "A bet. I know my fake-poison trick can fool anyone. And upon that certainty, I'm willing to wager..." He threw his arms out in a grand, dramatic sweeping gesture. "Fifty thousand ryo!"

"F-fifty thousand?" Hamada stammered. "I-I mean... Sure, why not. That's just pocket change to me!" He boasted, trying to cover up his shock.

"Excellent." Ryukatsu said, eyes gleaming with glee.

Ryukatsu's mind returned to the present day, and he noticed that Kawasaki appeared to be on the verge of passing out. He wasn't sure if it was from pain, blood loss or humiliation, but he couldn't let his opponent pass out, and wake up later believing it was some kind of dream or hallucination brought on by blood loss.

With a grand chakra-enhanced spin kick, he shattered the earthen spike that held Kawasaki up, the pain jarring him back to reality as he fell to the ground.

Ryukatsu gazed down at the scorched, bleeding body of his opponent. "I'm not done yet." He stated. "That was just one attack, one strategem, one option, something I came up with in less than a fraction of a second. I am but a mere Genin. I'm not from a clan, I have no Kekkei Genkai, and physical combat isn't even my specialty, yet I have beaten a former member of ANBU BlackOps. I have beaten you with the deadliest weapon in my arsenal... my mind. Yes, Kawasaki, I am a genius. And this is the fate that awaits all those who question me. Hopefully, this display of power will teach you this: When I give a plan or an order, you follow it. To the letter. Understood?"

Kawasaki growled and despite the burns and other damages marring his form, and the immense pain he was in, he got up using only his legs. Ryukatsu smiled and immediately burst into a small cloud of smoke, a tiny pebble appearing in mid-air, right where the center of his chest once was. The pebble fell to the ground lifelessly, because it was just a pebble, and Kawasaki looked around in rage, searching for that annoying, infuriating, explosion-loving brat so he could break every bone in his body. 'As an unavoidable result of his idiotic attempt to jump off a tall tree and punch him on the way down', of course. He didn't want any legal ramifications, so his defence had to be somewhat believable, but he didn't care if they wouldn't let him near Genin again. He didn't even care if he couldn't actually punch him with his arms in this state. He just wanted to-

There! There he was, right in front of him! Ryukatsu Shogun, the source of all his pain, waiting for something. He charged forwards at the kid like a barbarian, no, a rhino. His mind awash with bestial rage, all strategy forgotten, he wanted to tackle that kid to the ground, and headbutt his 'Dangerous mind' until it-

"Exactly as planned." Ryukatsu said, his body flickering away and disappearing.

"Where the hell did you go?!" The former ANBU snapped. He then spun around, swinging his limp arms back, expecting his opponent to be right behind him. He wasn't there, and he was too enraged to notice how much that arm-swing hurt.

"Show yourself, dammit!" Kawasaki shouted to the sky.

Ryukatsu suddenly appeared in front of him in a ready and slightly crouched stance, a kunai with twelve explosive tags and four immolation tags attached in his left hand. He lunged forwards and slammed his left elbow into the ANBU's stomach, knocking him back. Then he straightened his arm, stabbing him with the Kunai between his ribs, inserting the blade about one-point-five inches in, where it got stuck between his ribs and couldn't go in any further. Ryukatsu then turned his body and threw all of his strength and weight into a chakra-enhanced straight palm-thrust at the kunai's handle, sinking it in deeper, shattering those two ribs and forcing the kunai in, right up to the hilt.

Ryukatsu suddenly flickered and disappeared, reappearing fifteen feet away, the biggest smirk possible upon his face. Azure chakra flaring up around his hands, eyes gleaming, he excitedly whispered, "Chakra Style: Hellfire Tornado Jutsu!"

He inhaled deeply, put both hands to his mouth, and launched a thick stream of raw chakra towards the stabbed ANBU, overcharging and detonating all of his tags in an explosion that would normally crater the ground, kill everyone within a few feet, and start a forest fire that would eventually be stopped, but not before destroying a very large portion of the village and forest. Instead, chakra flaring up around him, he launched two more beams of raw chakra from his hands into the blast. Using his fine chakra control skills, he guided the shockwave and flames up and around into the tallest tornado he could manage, away from the trees and away from the former ANBU's body. He wanted there to be a body left over, a body that could be saved. He wanted witnesses to his power.

The former ANBU Ninja was engulfed in an enormous torrent of red and orange flames that could be seen for miles around, a huge monument to Ryukatsu's power that rivalled the height of the Hokage Tower, a macabre beacon of flames and death.

Staring directly into the inferno with a confident smile on his face, while his friends recoiled and braced themselves against the intense heat the tornado was giving off, Ryukatsu chuckled and loudly announced over the deafening crackle of flames, "Most people would see these fires and think they're the flames of hell... I'm just thinking, Somebody get me some marshmallows!"

"He..." Hamada whispered in fear, stepping back from her teammate. "He really is a monster..."

"Holy crap..." Shinkiro whispered in awe. "He just beat an ANBU assassin! No... WE just beat an ANBU assassin!" She turned to Hamada and yelled, "Hey, Hamada!"

"Yeah?" He asked as his voice cracked, struggling to keep the fear out of his voice as he turned to face Shinkiro.

"We just beat an ANBU assassin! A big one!" Shinkiro shouted.

"But... he's on fire! He's burning him alive!" He shouted.

"Relax, will ya?" Shinkiro shouted. "Ryukatsu's not stupid, he's not gonna do anything that'll go badly for us. Can't you see how most of the fire is being guided away from the guy?"

"Well, yeah, but... how is anyone supposed to survive that?" He asked in fear.

"You'd be surprised what you can live through." Ryukatsu said ominously, still staring into the flames, which started to die down. "Don't worry. As long as you stick with me, everything will be fine."

The Head Doctor was a thin and lanky and very tired man that looked to be fifty-something, despite only being in his late thirties. He had tired azure eyes rounded by dark circles of insomnia and an unkempt mop of straw-like grey hair, he wore a labcoat and reading glasses, and had a clipboard in his hand full of completely illegible scrawlings. He gave off a powerful aura of an incredible tiredness and weariness, the kind of man that was getting far, far too old for all of this and knew it.

"What. The Actual. Hell." He said slowly, focusing his tangible seriousness on each of the three assembled Genin in turn.

"He said he didn't want to be our Jonin Sensei, and he was gonna fail us and send us back to the Academy unless we could beat him in a fight!" Shinkiro protested.

"A Jonin Sensei is supposed to help, teach and protect his students to the best of his ability!" Ryukatsu insisted, right on cue. They'd planned this all on their way back to the hospital.

"He kept using this water shield jutsu, most of our attacks couldn't even scratch it. But Ryukatsu found something that could break it completely." Hamada said. "This awesome explosion trap thingy, it was totally kickass."

"So, you're saying you three... Genin, fresh out of the Academy... put a highly-trained and highly-skilled former ANBU Assassin... in critical condition. In one battle... in your first training session." The doctor said slowly.

"Mostly me." Ryukatsu said. "I'm kinda awesome. But my teammates helped."

The doctor grew a lot more serious, and glared at Ryukatsu with an intensity few could match. "You call THIS awesome? You almost killed this man!" He gestured to the man in the hospital bed, and the three Genin looked hard at him for a long time, taking it all in.

His head and face looked okay, but beneath that, it was a mess. Scar tissue started from the neck down and covered most of the chest and torso like a red ink stain, and a large crusty, flaky circular section on his stomach was charred completely black, right where Ryukatsu's Hellfire Tornado had hit him the worst.

"Doctor, I want to become a great Medic-Nin. What would I have to do to heal him?" Ryukatsu asked, looking back at the Doctor.

"Don't. Don't even touch this man with your unskilled Genin hands." The Medic said coldly. "I'll need a full team of doctors healing him twenty-four-seven, it'll take... about four days to heal, but I'll give him a week to recover. But that's just physical, I can't even begin to imagine how long a full mental recovery will take."

"That's all? Just a week?" Shinkiro asked in surprise.

"Young lady, do you have any idea what a full team of Ninja Medics can do when they get to someone in time?" The Medic asked with the tired air of one who asked that question often. He then looked down at his patient and said, "It's a good thing you got him here when you did. A few more hours, and there'd be no saving him."

"What do you think of the medical work I did to stabilize him, Doc?" Ryukatsu asked hopefully. "You know, the stabilization I did so that the time limit became a moot point, and we'd have a lot more than a few hours time to bring him here? He was bleeding really badly, and the flames only cauterized most of it. So I fixed the rest. Did I do it right?"

"That was some of the worst misuse of the Chiyute no Jutsu I've ever seen." The Doctor stated. "All the flesh you forced to regrow, I had to slice off and regrow properly. You can't supercharge a healing jutsu by forcing in more raw chakra without using a hell of a lot more control, or you'll just make the cells replicate incorrectly."

"Good to know. Is there anything else, Doc?" Ryukatsu asked. "Or should we go now?"

"Yes. Fortunately, your Sensei agreed to the duel, so no legal ramifications can be made. Not that he'd want them, anyway. However, in light of your actions, you will have to wait until your Sensei recovers before you can perform any missions. By order of The Third Hokage, you three now have a week of Paid Leave, so train. You might want to exercise... SOME RESTRAINT."

"'Restraint'?" Ryukatsu asked cluelessly, pretending to be dumber than he was for the sake of a joke. "Is that some new jutsu? What does it do? Is it a chakra-strings thing, or-"

"It's not a jutsu." The Medic said, facepalming. "Honestly, Ryukatsu Shogun of Team Thirteen, I heard you were a genius, how could you not-"

"I am a genius." Ryukatsu interrupted. "A real one. I just like messing with people. But don't worry, Sir, I'll be more careful in the future."

"Good." He said, and then sighed. "Honestly, you kids these days. Most of you, I have to warn about the dangers of the Ninja world. But you..." He chuckled ruefully. "I might have to warn the Ninja world about you!"

"Heh, warnings wouldn't do them any good." Ryukatsu chuckled. "I'd still defeat them all, and-" _Conquer Konoha, all of Hi no Kuni, and eventually all five of the Great Shinobi Villages! I will create a new world, one with no pain, no suffering, no sadness, a new world built according to MY design!_ "-Become the greatest and awesomest Strategist Ninja Scientist Medic of all time!"

"I don't care about your goals. I'm supposed to dismiss you three now, but... if I may give my personal opinion first..." The Medic became more serious than he had all meeting, and glared at Ryukatsu so intensely that his teammates were rooted to the spot. "You are one

sick, twisted, Genin, and it's times like these when all the late nights and long hours spent removing shuriken from the rear ends of inexperienced ninja and removing splinters from hypochondriac civilian feet seem worth it, because I know I'm not on your team, and I'm as far away from you and your insane squadron of underaged maniacs as I can possibly be. When your luck runs out, I'll be absolutely fine."

"Hey! Don't talk bad about Ryukatsu!" Shinkiro snapped, standing in front of him protectively with her arms outstretched. "He's a good guy, deep down, beneath the cold scientist curiosity, beneath the dramatic posturing, beneath all the detachment and power-hunger and control and boredom. He's a good guy. He wants to change the world, and make it a better place, because the way things are now, they suck. But he's a strategist, a tactician, a leader, and a freaking ninja! Victory, and our lives, hang in the balance that only he has power over! He doesn't have time to stop and pet puppies in the middle of a battlefield! And he doesn't have time to stop and think about how his actions will make people feel. He's a bit busy trying to KEEP US ALL ALIVE!"

"She's right!" Hamada shouted, standing by her side in front of Ryukatsu. "I've known the guy all the way through the Academy, we both have. We train hard, but that's because he doesn't want us to die. We trust him with our lives, because we know he'll protect them. Whether he knows it or not... we're his friends."

"Friends?" Ryukatsu said with widened eyes, surprised at his teammate's choice of words. _"That's right, I have... friends."_

"Wow. I'll give you this much, kid. You've sure trained your goons well." The Medic muttered.

"G-Goons?!" Shinkiro spluttered, outraged.

"Do you want to fight us?" Hamada snapped, his hands straying towards the axe at his back.

"Not here-" The Medic began. He was going to say, "Not here, you'll damage the equipment." He would then refuse to fight, as he was a Medic-Nin and not a front-line fighter. Certainly not one capable of fighting three Genin that had just finished destroying someone that

should have been far, far out of their league. Furthermore, whatever strange power their leader had, he didn't want to see it used on him. Though the scientist within him did want to know what it could do, it also didn't want to needlessly endanger its own life. That was a large part of why he became a Medic-Nin in the first place. That, and he was a really lousy runner.

"-Then perhaps you'd prefer an intellectual debate." Ryukatsu offered, interrupting the Medic. "Which I will win."

There was a short pause.

"Just... Just get out of my hospital." The Medic sighed. "Get out."

"Gladly!" Shinkiro shouted. She looked to Ryukatsu. "Ryukatsu?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Team... We go!"

The three flickered out of existance. The Medic, knowing this trick thanks to the very short time he spent as a Ninja, slowly wandered over to the window and looked outside. He saw them reappear on the road outside the building, and rolled his eyes. They were fast, but they were visible, so they weren't as fast as that lad in the green spandex with the black bowl-cut from last year. Now that kid was just loud.

"Doctor Akanagi?" An attractive black-haired civilian Scrub in a disposable plastic blue scrub uniform asked as she peeked her head into the room. "Patients nineteen through twenty-four need your assistance."

"Let's get this over with." The Medic sighed as he followed her to the patients, still conflicted and unsure over whether he'd just seen disturbing cult-like devotion, or truly admirable loyalty. He went with loyalty, that was a much more pleasant thought. Few teams were showing such cohesion and teamwork after just a few days of being together. Then again, they'd been together for most of their Ninja Academy careers...

Still... Just what had that kid done to them?

"Well, I'm going to the library." Ryukatsu said casually, walking off. It was late, it was cold, and the sun was starting to set right in front of them. "Hamada, work on your strength, and Shinkiro, work on your speed."

"Wait!" Hamada said suddenly, reaching out a hand as if to stop him.

About ten feet away from her, he stopped, and turned around. "Yes?" He asked casually.

"Ryu... Did you see what we did to that guy?" He asked uncomfortably.

"I did! It was awesome!" Shinkiro squealed loudly with glee, right beside him. He winced from her sheer volume. "We put a highly-skilled JONIN and former-ANBU ASSASSIN in the HOSPITAL! And it was AWESOME! Ryukatsu BLEW! HIM! UUUUP! MY MOM'S NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIIIIIS!"

"That's just it!" Hamada protested, still uncomfortable. "We really hurt that guy, and he

was only-"

"He challenged three untrained Genin fresh out of the Academy to best him in a straight-up fight." Ryukatsu stated. "If I didn't do what I'd done, he would have beaten the crap out of all of us, and then stopped us from ever being Ninja. He'd say our skills weren't good enough, he'd refuse to train us... and if his bosses insisted on forcing him to teach us and watch over us, he'd possibly even get us killed, just so he wouldn't be stuck with us. I'm not about to let some elderly brute throw our lives away just because he doesn't feel like doing his job. This way, he knows my power, and he'll respect it. And more importantly, he'll respect us."

"Are you sure it'll work out that way?" Hamada asked uncertainly.

"Shinkiro, when have I ever been wrong about what will happen?" Ryukatsu asked. "Have you no faith in me?"

"What? Ryu, you know I have faith in you, it's just..." He looked away, and said, "We put a guy in the hospital."

"Because he was planning on putting us in the ground." Ryukatsu said. "That's a lot more merciful than I usually am." He turned around, and looked off into the distance. "On the battlefield, there is no room for mercy."

There was a long silence.

"So cooooool!" Shinkiro whispered. "Almost as cool as Sasukeeeee!"

"'Almost'?" Ryukatsu asked in surprise without turning around, still dramatically looking off into the distance. "Shinkiro, the next time you see Sasuke, ask him if he could beat his Jonin Sensei the way I beat mine."

"Okay." She said.

There was another silence, a shorter one.

"I have to go to the library." Ryukatsu said, walking off. "Team, keep exercising and training your specialties, while I train mine. Some day... I am going to change this world, and methods such as mine will no longer be necessary. But until that day... We must continue."

They obeyed his orders, Hamada dropping and doing push-ups while Shinkiro did sit-ups and sets of assorted leg exercises. Ryukatsu walked away, leaving his friends behind as he walked towards the greatest available power offered to him: Knowledge. And if his plan for a new world was going to succeed, he'd need power, and lots of it.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Naruto is not actually an idiot, but Ryukatsu has yet to see anything to make him believe otherwise._

_Ryukatsu has no Kekkei Genkai or overpowered abilities. He is not a Jinchuriki. And no matter what weapons and combination attacks he creates, his most dangerous weapon will always be his mind._


	2. Out With The Old

After one week of intense training, they were ready, and they were finally going to meet their Sensei again, outside the Hokage Tower where there was plenty of eyes on everyone involved. Ryukatsu could now do thirty-seven push-ups, Hamada could do fourty-one, and Shinkiro could do thirty. However, Shinkiro could outrun them both, dodge just about any attack from either of her teammates, draw her weapons the fastest, and throw kunai faster and with near-perfect accuracy without having to aim, and completely-perfect accuracy when she took a moment to aim. Ryukatsu had completely perfect accuracy, but only when he took the split-second he needed to aim and calculate his weapon's weight and required velocity, he couldn't instinctively throw a kunai perfectly like her. Shinkiro was starting to develop her kunai-fighting style beyond simple straight stabs and lunges, and Hamada was getting a little better at controlling his axe. Ryukaysu had began experimenting with actual poisons, and had even more explosive tags and weaponry hidden inside sealing scrolls on him than last time. Their training weights were now heavier, with ten on each leg and five on each arm. Ten of what? They weren't entirely sure, but they felt pretty heavy.

The three ninja met up with their Sensei outside the Hokage Tower. Ryukatsu was in the center with Hamada and Shinkiro on either side of him, and Kurogane stood across from them, arms folded.

A long silence rang out while Kurogane's steely gaze forced against Ryukatsu's scientifically curious gaze. Ryukatsu could sense something different about the man's chakra, but he wasn't sure exactly what. It felt like... Kawasaki Kurogane no longer saw himself as being forced to give up his well-paying dream job and babysit three weak kids on boring low-rank low-pay missions. He was pleasantly surprised at what the kids turned out to be capable of, and he was particularly looking forwards to seeing his kids go wild on some high-bounty Missing-Nin. Still, his outwards appearance seemed unchanged from before, so Ryukatsu wasn't about to trust the guy. He could have been using a Genjutsu to make his chakra appear different.

Finally, he spoke. "Kids... I spent a whole week in that hospital room, waiting to get out, and thinking about what I was going to say when I got out... and saw you three again."

Ryukatsu crouched slightly while his eyes narrowed, Hamada's hands strayed towards the axe at his back, and Shinkiro drew two kunai knives in an instantaneous split-second movement.

"And now that you're all here in person, I have to say..." Kurogane said, raising his right fist.

The Genin tensed up, preparing for an attack.

Kawasaki Kurogane stuck out his thumb. "Great job, kids!" He said, smiling.

"Is he... smiling?" Shinkiro wondered, surprised.

"Unusual." Ryukatsu thought. "Unless..."

"Kids, I challenged you because I wanted to know what you could do." Kurogane stated, folding his arms again. "And now I know you can do that to someone of my level... Kids, hold on to your kunai, because we're going to set the record for the most high-ranking missions undertaken by a Genin team!"

"YES!" Hamada and Ryukatsu yelled, fist pumping. And then, standing side by side, they put an arm around each other's backs and gleefully began high-kicking the air to the left and right in a victory dance while chanting, "Money, Money, Mon-Nay! Money, Money, Mon-Nay!"

"What? But... sir! Are you sure that's wise?" Shinkiro asked, trying to ignore her teammate's dancing.

Kurogane tried to look down at Shinkiro the way a father would look at his daughter, but it just ended up looking weird. "Kids, I'm supposed to do oversee you doing a bunch of D-Rank missions. Dumb menial labour anyone can do. They're supposed to be team-building exercises, but I think they're stupid. Anyway, your teamwork is solid, your skills are sharp, and... I have yet to see Ryukatsu do a single Genjutsu, even though I was told he was a Ninjutsu and Genjutsu specialist that only trains Taijutsu as a fallback option." And then, Kurogane chuckled. "And honestly, I want to see you kids in action again, but against someone that isn't me."

"Do the money dance! Do the money dance!" Ryukatsu and Hamada sang. They stopped kicking, removed their arms from each other, and began badly dancing individually. Ryukatsu shut his eyes, grinned, stuck his arms out and rapidly swung his straight arms up and down while stepping forwards and back. Hamada began shuffling his feet around and waving his arms in the air as he swung his hips from side to side.

Kurogane looked at the dancing Genin with an incredibly pained expression on his face. "You kids kicked my ass." He muttered in disbelief. "You are the kids that kicked my ass. I used to be in ANBU, and I had my ass kicked by my own Genin." He chuckled ruefully, his face swiftly meeting his palm. "I'm never gonna live this down."

"Don't worry, Kurogane-Sensei!" Ryukatsu said as he changed his dance move, now swinging his hips around in a wide circle and getting very low to the ground, throwing his knees and back into the spin. "Maybe you'll get some of your pride back if you help us catch enough rogue ninja!" He then resumed chanting, "Money dance! Money dance!"

"Yeah!" Hamada agreed, pelvic-thrusting while making V-for-Victory signs with his hands and moving them across in front of his face, as if wiping some invisible screen in rhythm to his thrusts. "Money dance! Money dance!"

Shinkiro stared, open-mouthed. "I... I want to look away, but I can't." She mumbled. Her mind seemed to have shut down, to protect itself from the incredible awfulness of their dancing.

"Kids, stop dancing." Kurogane said.

"You can't stop the power of dance!" Ryukatsu said, sticking his arms out and rapidly waving his spread-out hands as he spread his feet and twisted and shook his hips clockwise repeatedly.

"Nobody can stop the power of dance!" Hamada shouted, slowly gyrating his hips around counterclockwise, in rhythm with his teammate.

"As your Sensei, I officially order you to stop dancing!" Kkurogane barked.

"Understood." Ryukatsu obeyed, stopping his dancing and straightening up, much to Hamada's surprise. "So, Sensei, shall we get our mission?"

"Yes. Team, let's go." Kurogane said, walking into the Hokage Tower. His team followed. Why were they walking in, instead of teleporting in?

Chakra-distrupting seals were set up around the Hokage Tower and inside the walls, to make sure an assassin couldn't Shunshin inside, surprise-attack the Hokage with a heavily-poisoned kunai, get the one hit they needed to secure the target's death, and Shunshin out before any guards could arrive. The seals weren't powerful enough to damage any chakra coils or ruin any Ninjutsu, it as just powerful enough to make Shunshin no Jutsu harder to use and far harder to use with precision. It also had the added effect of cancelling any genjutsu used on the targets. Genjutsu worked by inserting a portion of the user's chakra into precise portions of their opponent's chakra coils and affecting parts of the opponent's brain, the seal's disruption was perfect for momentarily disrupting the target's chakra flow and deleting any foreign chakra. Just like rebooting the computers they used for Chunin Exam Opponent Selection and printing important forms. Which they had to do often, because those easily-overheating monstrosities could barely run a simple 'Select two names from a pool of over twelve. These names must not be the same. Therefore, pick one name and display it, then remove it from the pool of possible name choices, then choose another name from the pool and display it, and remove it from the pool' script.

Ryukatsu reflected on this as the four Ninja made their way to the Hokage's room, and recieved their mission.

* * *

It was an okay mission, as far as missions went. It was a B-ranking escort mission the kind given to new teams to see how well they do in the field without exposing themselves to too much danger. It would normally be C-ranking due to the low possibility of danger, but... An affluent client and his family ran his own trading caravan, and wanted some Shinobi Guards to watch over him, because he was going to The Land of Iron. And naturally, he was taking the fastest, most direct, and most bandit-infested route possible. After all, he had Shinobi Guards to protect him! If Kurogane's team wasn't there, this mission would probably go to a squad of Chunin instead.

The members of Team Kurogane, informally known as Ryukatsu's Flawless Victory Squad of Doom, went about their last-minute preparations(Everyone brought several Bento Boxes of food and canteens of purified water and mineral water to drink. Ryukatsu brought even more explosive tags, a few vials and canteens of assorted poisons, small smoke-bombs full of a combination of smoke and knockout gas, a large suitcase with lab tools inside to function as a first aid kit and mobile laboratory, as well as a big sack of books on Ninja-related topics he had yet to read, and even more sealing scrolls inside his pockets. Hamada brought along more explosive tags, which he gave to Ryukatsu, a bound stack of one-hundred-ryo notes hidden inside a weapons sealing scroll hidden within the weapons seal inside his pocket, and he brought along a lot more food for everyone else sealed within sealing scrolls, so they could eat more than just Bento, noodles and the emergency food pills Ryukatsu usually kept on him. Shinkiro brought more Kunai, Shuriken, a small journal and pen, thin steel wire, and sealing scrolls full of Kunai. Supplies were limited on the road, so everything had to be accounted for, and Ryukatsu was pretty sure he'd made sure his team) and met up with their client.

He saw two mighty black stallion horses tied to a large and fancy-looking wooden carriage that appeared to be large enough to carry at least sixteen people inside. The horse-driver at the front was a small and well-dressed man. All in all, it looked more like a horse-drawn carriage out of some old awful princess fantasy novel instead of an actual trading caravan.

Inside the caravan, large white sacks of goods including Shinobi tools, farming equipment, closed sacks, open sacks of food and building supplies were scattered around the surprisingly roomy carriage. A wealthy-looking and well-dressed man in his early thirties with a brown coiffure smiled lazily at them, three gold earrings on each ear and several rings on each finger. Okay, now it was a trading caravan. "Heeeeyyy, are you the guards we hired?"

"Yes, sir! Team Thirteen, at your service. Best team in Konoha."

He rested back, shutting his. "Sweeeeet." He sighed. "Alright, let's go."

"Yes, my Lord!" The caravan's driver said, lashing his reins once to signal his horses to travel onwards.

"'Lord'? You're a Lord?" Hamada asked.

"No, he just... he just... he's all... formal... and stuff." Their client sighed.

Ryukatsu's eyes narrowed. "You appear to be suffering from what could be any of several poisons, all of which dull the senses and the mind. Would you object if I took a blood sample?"

"The what? No, I'm just... alright, go ahead."

In the space of a single second, Ryukatsu suddenly had a needle in his hand, with which he extracted a sample from the target's neck. He then removed the needle, sealed the liquid-containing part with chakra, and placed it back into his bag.

"...I said, go ahead." Their client said, . "Waaaait... Nevermind, it's just a thing. I... uh... Wait..."

He suddenly fell to the side and passed out, falling asleep on Hamada's shoulder.

"What the hell, Ryukatsu?" Kurogane barked.

"What do I do, what do I dooo?" Hamada asked in panic, tensing up, nervously looking at their client, who had started to drool.

"I didn't take anywhere near that much." Ryukatsu stated, impassively looking at their client. "He should not have passed out."

"...Forget it, let's just keep going." Kurogane said, gently moving their client away from Hamada's shoulder, and letting him slump to the ground. He then sat back down, and folded his arms. "Whatever he took, I've seen its effects before. He'll be fine in an hour or two. ...And Ryukatsu... Don't let me catch you attempting to replicate what he took. Ever."

Ryukatsu reached into his pocket, gently took hold of the vial, closed his eyes and charged chakra into the vial. "...Nope. This stuff isn't injectable. Which means it's worthless to me."

"Wait..." Hamada said as Ryukatsu took his hand out of his pocket. "How do you know that? How can you tell?"

"Analysing the chemical makeup of any substance using chakra, without the need of any equipment, is a basic Medical Jutsu." Ryukatsu recited. "Barely a D-Rank jutsu. It takes about as much chakra as detonating an explosive tag. Which isn't much, for anyone."

"But... Ryu, that Doctor said you sucked at Medical Jutsu." Hamada said uncertainly.

"I do not 'Suck'." Ryukatsu grumbled, looking out the window. "I've been learning and using medical jutsu for a few months. Most Hidden Leaf doctors have several years of experience. Besides, I don't plan on becoming a full-time doctor, wasting away in some ER, or even  
becoming a field medic, healing people on the battlefield that can't dodge. My skill in Medical Jutsu is for healing myself, healing my comrades, and most of all, destroying my enemies. Plus, this stuff is interesting." Ryukatsu then looked at Kurogane. "Sensei, how long will this trip take?"

"Four days." Kurogane said. "We go there, take out any bandits along the way, we buy and sell things there, we escort him back to Konoha, and we're done."

"That's all? Lame." Hamada said. "When do the bandits attack? ...Wait, why do we want bandits to attack us?"

"Listen closely, kids. I know he may not look it, but this guy is one of the richest and most influential caravan merchants on the continent." Kurogane said, completely serious. "If Konoha's economic prosperity is going to continue, the flow of goods must be secured. And we need the patronage of rich stuff-sellers like him. If anything happens to him, we look bad, the village looks bad, and those merchants might just decide to take their business elsewhere. And then what happens? Konoha starves. It's in a forest, kids, not a farm."

"Don't our Shinobi have a reputation for being soft?" Hamada asked.

"Compared to those cull-the-weak survival-of-the-fittest Bloody Mist lunatics? Maybe." Kurogane sighed, closing his eyes as if remembering something unpleasant.

"Well, we are the only village where the desires of the Civilian Council holds so much weight. Still... I have no idea where they got that idea." Ryukatsu said. "Just look at our Clans, and think of the potential. I'm pretty sure an Inuzuka's Fang Over Fang Jutsu can drill straight through anyone's chest, and that's if they don't decide to tear you to shreds wih their claws or just openly set their hounds on you. The Yamanaka's mind-affecting jutsu can damage and outright erase someone's very memories, personality, sanity and identity. You could be working for them and carrying out their orders without even realizing it. And it doesn't stop there. Flattened by an Akimichi, impaled with shadows by a Nara, or devoured alive by a swarm of Aburame insects. Konoha is not a weak village."

"You didn't mention The Uchiha." Kurogane observed. "With their Sharingan, and all its evolved forms. The regular Sharingan boosts reflexes and reaction-time and lets you copy almost any jutsu, giving you a theoretically-limitless movepool. And the boosts get better with each evolved form, and I totally want one, and it's totally freaking awesome, and-"

"Oh, please. The Uchiha are not a clan." Ryukatsu chuckled. "They were slightly-above-average Ninja that coasted on their bloodline's natural abilities, their outrageous special treatment, and the fact that their ancestor helped found the Village... Though I'm pretty sure Hashirama Senju did most of the work. I heard Itachi Uchiha became an ANBU Captain at... Sixteen? Twelve? Thirteen? Ten? I can't remember."

"To be fair, he did begin his Ninja career far earlier than most." Hamada said, trying to calm Shinkiro down. She was tense, which they knew to mean conflicted.

"Noted." Ryukatsu stated, not particularly impressed. "As for the Sharingan's evolved forms... Ooh, evolved forms, real scary. Come on, look at what it does. Heightened reflexes, perception and analytical abilities of whatever his Sharingan eyes can see? Prevent his eyes from seeing anything, with something like a smoke bomb or chara-enhanced smoke bomb or a blinding poison, and boom, advantage gone. The same advantage all Uchiha coast on. Or hit him from behind, like an actual ninja. Or train until your speed and reflexes surpass even the artificial, unearned boosts granted by the Sharingan. Seriously, the Uchiha are not a clan worthy of anything other than a few mocking laughs. Certainly not deserving of getting a whole district to themselves surrounding their Clan Compound, a district that's still almost completely empty. But seriously, ANBU Captain. A little kid, as ANBU Captain. Does that not smell like special treatment to you? Besides, Konoha has enough clans. Enough actual clans, with actual jutsu, not just some 'Special Eye'."

"You know, if Sasuke heard you talking like that, he'd kick your ass." Shinkiro said, stroking her left arm with her right for some reason.

Ryukatsu chuckled... and then broke out into outright laughter. When he calmed down enough to talk, he said, "Shinkiro... Three words. Let... Him... Try. But don't worry, I won't hurt him too bad. There'll be enough of him left for you when I'm done fighting him."

Shinkiro frowned. Kurogane chuckled. "Heh... Kid, if you get into the Chunin Exams, and you fight him... I'll bet on you."

Ryukatsu smiled. A genuine, kind smile, the smile of someone whose heart had just been warmed, and was a little surprised to find there was a heart there to warm. "Thank you, Kurogane-Sensei. That means a lot to me."

The trip continued on in silence for a few minutes. Which was good, because Ryukatsu had a flashback.

* * *

During Team Thirteen's one week of training, also known as 'The week Kawasaki spent stuck in the hospital', Ryukatsu had visited the Uchiha Clan Compound to find Sasuke Uchiha throwing shuriken at targets while jumping around the training area. Every thrown shuriken his its target dead-center, despite his moving around at high speeds and throwing shuriken at odd angles.

Using Shunshin no Jutsu, Ryukatsu teleported about three feet behind Sasuke, just out of his melee range. "Sasuke." He stated flatly.

Sasuke immediately whirled around to see who it was. When he saw who it was, his frown deepened.

"Sasuke, I want to fight you." Ryukatsu stated, before Sasuke had a chance to say anything. "You were the Rookie of the Year, and I'm rapidly moving up in the world. I need to know if I can defeat you."

"You can't." Sasuke stated.

"Pretty sure I can." Ryukatsu pointed out. "They don't just

"All the planning in the world won't save you if you can't fight." Sasuke told him, thinking of all the Genin in his class who claimed that they 'Planned to become great Ninja'. Meanwhile, he was an Uchiha, he was already a great Ninja. And he needed to be even greater, if he was ever going to get his revenge upon Itachi.

"If that is how it's going to be..." Ryukatsu sighed, as if he was about to do something he didn't want to do. He narrowed his eyes, hardened his voice and steeled his resolve. "The Uchiha are little more than an old joke, an outdated and outmoded relic of the past, mere inbred fools who coasted on special treatment, political pull, blatant favouritism and nepotism and a 'Special Eye' to get them where they've gotten. Itachi Uchiha did the Ninja World a favour when he killed them all... Though why he left you, of all people, alive... is beyond even me."

Sasuke snapped, drawing a Kunai and preparing to attack, overwhelmed with fury. Ryukatsu was ready, and had planned this all out on his walk to the clan compound.

He had to defeat Sasuke, but without revealing any moves the Uchiha may be able to copy. Those eyes of his could only copy what he saw, so he needed to attack from the flanks and back. Sasuke hadn't gotten his Sharingan yet, but Ryukatsu didn't feel like taking any chances.

_Rokubōsei seiza!_ Ryukatsu thought inside his own mind, deciding on what clone formation he was going to use. _(Meaning: Six-pointed Star Constellation. Pun: 'Seiza' is mispronounced as 'Caesar')._

"Earth Clone Jutsu!" Ryukatsu intoned as he summoned six Earth Clones to rise up and surround Sasuke like the numbers of a sundial, equidistant from each other. Each clone got out two Kunai, and charged at unequal speeds, while the original waited eagerly.

The first Earth Clone charged at him, aiming for a brutal close-range stab to the face, and Sasuke dodged to the right and redirected the clone into the second, which was about to stab the raven-haired kid in the back. Both clones burst into clouds of dust. The third threw his Kunai, which Sasuke dodged by bending over backwards at the knees. Ryukatsu's fourth clone suddenly appeared to his side by using Shunshin no Jutsu, and with a vicious downwards elbow to Sasuke's chest, he knocked the Uchiha to the floor. Just before Sasuke's head hit the ground, the fourth Ryukatsu got out two Kunai and threw them at Sasuke's head.

Performing a basic move the Academy had taught and he had mastered, Sasuke brought his legs up, then jumped to his feet into a fighting stance to dodge the thrown Kunai, which sunk into the ground either side of where his head once was, and-

"Earth Style: Head Hunter Jutsu!" The original Ryukatsu whispered. Sasuke's entire body was suddenly pulled underground, leaving only his head aboveground. Sasuke began to struggle-

Ryukatsu tossed a Kunai, which nicked Sasuke's right cheek, making a small thin cut, easily curable by any medical jutsu. "My Kunai buries itself up to the hilt in your forehead." The original Ryukatsu stated. "A quick kick from me slams it through your head, which then explodes like a watermelon. Nobody recognizes the body, due to the lack of the head, and the body is burned away along with the rest of the Uchiha District, with false leads planted to make it appear to any investigating ANBU that this was a quick surgical strike from the Mist Village. You lose, Sasuke Uchiha. And the Uchiha Clan loses along side you."

Sasuke continued to struggle, completely outraged, helpless once again in the face of a superi- of a foe.

"You know, you can only get out of that if the average of your strength, willpower, chakra control and chakra reserves are higher than mine, which they aren't." Ryukatsu pointed out as his Earth Clones crumbled into dust that blew away in the wind, their purpose complete. He casually picked up his thrown Kunai, and he left. "I assume it'll hold you for a few minutes before wearing off and letting you out. ...Eventually" He said as he walked off.

"Oh, and Sasuke?" Ryukatsu asked, stopping suddenly, not bothering to look back.

"Suuuck iiit!" He sang happily as he left, leaving the Uchiha stuck in the ground.

Ryukatsu leisurely jogged home, reminding himself to begin working on and examining the Uchiha DNA he'd just taken as soon as possible. He'd leave a few Earth Clones behind in his lab, see how far they'd get by the time he returned. He estimated they'd have every facet of it examined and understood within the first thirty minutes, and then they'd spend the rest of the time he gave them figuring out ways to exploit it.

* * *

"I sense something!" Ryukatsu whispered excitedly without warning, alerting the others. "Five enemy bandits hiding behind the trees, about two hundred yards ahead. Weak chakra signatures, so they're either non-Shinobi, or skilled Shinobi surpressing their chakra. Considering their equipment, I doubt that."

"Stop the cart!" Kurogane barked.

"No, keep going!" Ryukatsu demanded. "We can't afford to stop! Shinkiro and I will go on ahead, take them out, and have a bandit barbecue going long before you reach us!"

"What?! No, I-" Kurogane began to protest, but the two ninja were no longer there in the cart with them. He sighed. Damn, those kids were going to be the death of him. If the rosewood-haired Genin hadn't beaten him while he wasn't holding back, he'd consiser leaving the cart and dragging them back here. Instead, he knew he could take care of themselves, and leaving the Client alone with only a lone Genin for protection. That would not be acceptable. Still, that didn't mean he had to like the move that he was forced to make: Do nothing, and wait for Ryukatsu to finish doing what he wanted.

"Hey, wait, what about me?" Hamada asked. "Why can't I help?"

"He only took Shinkiro, so he probably wants things done quickly, and stealthily." Kurogane sighed, patting the kid on his shoulder. "Your huge golden axe isn't exactly quick or stealthy."

"It's not made of real gold." Hamada said reflexively. "It's steel, affected by Blacksmithing jutsu to appear gold."

"We can't stop!" Their client mumbled in his sleep, still on the ground. "We musht... pressh onwards!"

Kurogane facepalmed. "I should have stayed in ANBU." He muttered.

Ryukatsu and Shinkiro appeared standing on the overhead tree branches, far atop their caravan. The two Ninja jumped from tree to tree, easily overtaking their caravan. "I asked for you to come, because I'm not an idiot." Ryukatsu said, looking straight ahead in anticipation of the fight. "You're a good ninja, and I'm not dumb enough to take five bandits on completely alone with no safety net, backup or backup plan. So, if I don't kill all five of the bandits within the first five seconds of beginning of the fight, jump in and surprise-attack them, kill as many as possible, and then help me. Okay?"

"Got it." Shinkiro said with a nod. After a pause, and a few uncomfortable thoughts, she asked, "So, I'm just your safety net?"

"You can't always be my ace. Some plans require different tactics. These are just five bandits, barely worth the effort it would take to throw shuriken at them. But hey, I trust you. I know you're kinda new at this, but don't worry, I'll be gentle. Just wait until the time comes, and let me handle everything until then. Don't worry, it won't take long. You know we usually finish early."

Shinkiro chuckled. "I see what you did there."

"No complaints?" Ryukatsu said, surprised. "I was expecting at least an eye-roll."

"Not from me. That sort of thing is just another part of life. What kind of immature dumbass would put it on a pedestal and treat it like it's some big, shocking, horrific secret? And gasp and almost faint every time someone mentions it, or makes a joke about it, or says something that makes you think about it? The only kind of people who'd act like that... are the people too immature to handle it. It's nothing special, really, so why get so worked up about it?"

"Because people are stupid." Ryukatsu answered.

"Yeah." Shinkiro agreed.

There was a brief pause as they kept on jumping from tree to tree. And then Ryukatsu said, "This is taking too long, we should have stayed on the Caravan longer."

"Yeah." Shinkiro agreed.

The five bandits Ryukatsu had sensed were, as he knew, hiding behind the thickest trees closest to the road. Each was dressed in cheap-looking clothing, and had was armed with old-looking, well-used weaponry. The three on the left were of average height and weight,  
with one tanto each. The fourth looked to be fourty-something, with an actual katana at his belt. The fifth was the shortest by four inches, and by far, the angriest-looking, with two hunting knives in his hands.

They peeked out from behind the trees, hearing a Trading Caravan roll along the path towards them.

"Five." Ryukatsu counted.

Three kunai with two attached explosive tags each suddenly found themselves launched into the upper backs of the short bandit, the old katana-wielding bandit and the average bandit furthest to the right.

"Four." Ryukatsu counted down. The explosive tags detonated almost instantaneously, reducing everything above their waists to explosive plumes of red paste while the two surviving bandits were blasted back, where they landed on the ground, ears ringing.

"Three." Ryukatsu said, and two ordinary tagless kunai with a blaze of blue chakra around them suddenly struck the two bandits in their heads, tunnelling through and travelling out the other way before running out of chakra and hitting the ground like an ordinary thrown kunai.

"You guys suck!" Ryukatsu yelled, jumping down from his high vantage point in the trees. "Ah, well. Exactly as planned. And now... The spoils of war!" He said excitedly, and began going through the pockets of the now-headless bandits.

"What the hell was that?!" Shinkiro asked in shock, jumping down from the trees and landing on the forest floor beside him

"Kunai with attached Explosive tags. And charging ordinary kunai with chakra, and then throwing, to increase toughness, throwing speed and sharpness." Ryukatsu said casually, still rifling through the Shinobi's pockets. "Basic stuff. As for the bandits... I took out the priority targets first, in the quickest and most humane way possible. The book recommend that, because taking each one on one-on-one is considered naive, foolish, and it is indicative of a burning need to prove oneself, a need so great they cannot even get over it during missions. And I finished it quickly because taking undue pleasure in their suffering is considered a sign of mental instability."

"'The book'? Which book said that?" Shinkiro wondered.

"One of them." Ryukatsu shrugged, pocketing an orange toad-shaped wallet and a few senbon needles. He moved on to the next body, and went through his pockets. "I don't keep track of where I learned the information, I just know the information I've learned. Keeping track of book titles and page numbers would just be a waste of space. Then again... maybe if I did keep track of that, things wouldn't be such a mess in here. Anyway... Shinkiro, go through their pockets, see if they had anything good on them."

"Alright." Shinkiro said reluctantly, and uncomfortably began going through the pockets of the slain bandits. "Hey, Ryu... Are you sure this is alright?"

"Of course it is!" Ryukatsu chuckled, as if it was a stupid question. "That's one of the most basic laws of nature: 'Finders keepers'. And trust me, I'm a scientist. Scientists are pretty familiar with the laws of nature. Besides, they were gonna kill us and take our stuff. Actually, that's the best-case scenario. They might have done things to us that are much worse, so we're nowhere near as bad as common bandits. Hurt anyone who says otherwise. This isn't revenge, this is just... karma."

"You actually believe in that crap?" Shinkiro asked, amazed.

"No, but it makes a nice excuse." Ryukatsu chuckled.

Shinkiro laughed with him in relief, and went back to going through pockets. "I'm not sure why, but I actually feel way better now. Thanks."

"Don't sweat it. It's what I'm here for. That, and planning, and schemes, and plots, and blowing things up."

"Aren't you supposed to be a Ninjutsu and Genjutsu specialist?" Shinkiro asked, finding a fish-shaped wallet that felt pretty light, and a few hollow marble-sized balls wrapped in tiny bandages, and pocketing them.

"Yes, but I'm not going to waste my chakra on some common bandits!" Ryukatsu chuckled. "Besides, it was quicker this way. And, I didn't damage their pockets too much, so we can still go through their stuff. We're on a trading caravan, headed to ? Town. We can sell whatever we find there, or barter it for better stuff."

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?" She asked.

"Yeah." He admitted, and they moved on to the next body.

Soon, everything had been taken from the bandits, including any weaponry, money, and still-intact clothes(Ryukatsu left them their underwear. Taking that would be too much. Besides, who would buy used underwear? It'd just take up Caravan space.). Ryukatsu had piled the  
remains atop the barely-connected lower bodies and red mess their comrades had become, and once he and Shinkiro were standing back at a safe distance, he threw a single unusual-looking Explosive Tag with slightly different markings at the pile. The thrown tag stuck itself to the bandit bodies, and when he made the requisite handseal, it was all set alight in a grand conflagration.

Shinkiro flinched and shielded her eyes from the bright bonfire, but Shinkiro stared directly into it in awe.

"Big, burly, brawny barbarian bandits burning brightly." Ryukatsu said to himself as he admired the bonfire as if it was a beautiful sunrise. He chuckled ominously.

Shinkiro took a few cautious steps away from her teammate.

"Well, we'd best be off." Ryukatsu said with a pleasant smile, walking towards his Caravan with a satisfied look upon his face. Shinkiro followed closely behind, carrying all the weaponry and other equipment they'd taken from the bandits.

Ryukatsu flickered into view inside the Caravan, Shinkiro appearing closely behind him and dropping everything they'd acquired onto the floor by her seat. Ryukatsu's smile grew wider, and he dramatically and deeply announced, "Today... is a good day!"

* * *

The next three hours of travel passed by without incident. Ryukatsu meditated and performed chakra exercises, Hamada alternated between push-ups and sit-ups, Shinkiro performed leg exercises, and Kurogane napped.

And then their client awoke.

With his customary bluntness, Kurogane explained the situation. "So, do you get it now?" He asked after several minutes of explanation.

"I do believe I do." Their client, whose name was revealed to be Morikiyo, stated. "I hired you four Ninja as Caravan guards." He leaned forwards and peered at Ryukatsu, invading his personal space. "Tell me... What was I thinking when I hired children as guards?"

"I recently killed five Chunin-level Bandits in under five seconds." Ryukatsu stated, glancing at the pile of weaponry and clothes he'd taken from his kills. "Three hours ago, in fact. The shoddy weapons and clothing you see over there once belonged to them."

"He's right, I saw it." Shinkiro said, currently doing The Splits on the carriage's floor.

"Do you expect me to believe that?" Morikiyo asked. "Those weapons and the clothing could be your spares."

"Do you think someone like us would own such awful weaponry and clothing?" Ryukatsu asked. "Besides, it's good that we look like this."

"How is that good?" Morikiyo asked with a chuckle. He then looked at Kurogane appraisingly. "A Caravan Guard should be big, intimidating, the kind of guy nobody wants to fight. Someone like this handsome specimen here..."

"I'm married." Kurogane said tersely.

"Why would you-" Morikiyo began, and then paled. "Ah. No, it's not like that. No no, no. No. No! Not at all, no. No no no, no."

Ryukatsu went back to meditating while Morikiyo kept on saying different variations of 'No'. After at least thirty more 'No's, he moved on.

"It's not like that, not at all. No." Morikiyo said. "I was simply stating that if you ever wish to quit your current job and become my guard... I'll always have an opening for you."

"I don't think anyone wants to go inside your opening." Shinkiro said with a smirk.

Hamada gave a small 'Heh' of laughter while still doing sit-ups, and Ryukatsu smirked while still sitting and meditating.

Kurogane chuckled. "Tell you what... If one of my kids blows me up again, I'll consider it."

The sound of the horse's reins outside being lashed reminded them all that they were still in a trading Caravan the size of a carriage.

"As I was saying... It is good that we look like this. My goal is not to scare the bandits away." Ryukatsu said ominously. "Destroying them all... is one of my goals."

"Ah. Are you on a quest of vengeance?" Morikiyo assumed, having read something like this in a book once.

"No. I refuse to head down that path, not when there are better paths available to me." Ryukatsu said with a shake of his head. "But the roads of Konoha should be safe. And my team needs to prove their worth, so we can take on higher-level missions." He got up, spread his arms wide and announced, "My true goal is to change this world! And one change I desire... Is the complete elimination of all bandits, criminals, and any other form of evil!"

"Neat." Morikiyo said, unimpressed. "By the way..." Morikiyo trailed off, looking intently at Hamada's axe. "That is a fine axe you've got there. How much would it cost to buy it from you?"

Ryukatsu sat down, instantly coming up with a backstory and name, even though they had yet to officially grant Hamada's axe a name. "That beautiful axe you see before you is none other than the Daichoppa, the legendary greataxe of absolute destruction." Ryukatsu boasted. "It is said that The Sage of the Six Paths himself created this weapon, and once used it to cleave an Akimichi in twain."

"To do what to an Akimichi?" Morikiyo asked, tilting his head.

"To chop him in half." Ryukatsu said flatly, and then resumed his dramatic voice. "This weapon is one of Konoha's finest relics, an ancestral weapon handed down to great warriors through the generations! Few even know of its existence, as no foes have ever been left alive once they have seen it!"

"Neat. How does... Ten thousand Ryo sound?"

That wouldn't even cover the cost of making it! Ryukatsu thought. "Only ten thousand?" He asked, offended. "You insult me, you insult the weapon, and you insult Konoha. This is a legendary artefact, a sacred relic! Two point five billion Ryo, and no less."

"Boy, I run a trading caravan, not a high-grade weapons store." Morikiyo said, gesturing to the sacks of food and farming tools and other supplies around him. "I mostly trade in food, cloth, pretty clothing, practical clothing, farming supplis, farming tools and cheap weaponry. Standard stuff, like surplus kunai and mediocre swords. Things the masses can buy in large quantities, and other, more specific things I can sell to specific types of people at higher prices. But tell me, where on my travels will I run into some villager or painter or dressmaker or wannabe-mercenary who can afford a weapon like that? I'd just end up lugging around a big, shiny weapon I can't use or sell, something that'll just take up space and weigh my caravan down until it gets taken by bandits."

Ryukatsu switched tactics. "Perhaps you'd want it for your personal collection?" He said as he began speaking smoother and more seductively, like he'd once read about in a book(The book was a guide to seduction techniques for Kunoichi, but he was pretty sure it'd work for any kind of Ninja). "I'm sure such a glorious golden paragon of perfection would look magnificent mounted on the wall, above a beautiful, roaring fireplace."

"Meh, not really." Morikiyo shrugged, not even slightly swayed. "Yes, it's made of gold, but it's still an axe. And an axe is a classless and styleless weapon for big, dumb, shirtless barbarian brutes and demons and trolls and Oni to swing around like clubs. And it's a tool  
for chopping wood, but I am not a woodcutter, and I would not want something so... so drab in my home."

"Would you buy it for two million Ryo?" Ryukatsu asked hopefully, switching tactics again.

"No." Morikiyo said, expecting Ryukatsu to go lower.

"Then in that case... No Deal." Ryukatsu said casually, and went back to meditating, crossing his legs and closing his eyes.

He began exercising his chakra control, immediately jumping into the harder exercises. His chakra flared up around him, a bright blue blaze of power, and tongues of flame began to precisely poke two feet out for a moment before retracting back in, timed with the natural flow of his chakra and the way it burned just like real fire. His teammates exercised harder.

"They work hard, don't they?" Morikiyo asked Kurogane.

"They're ninja." Kurogane answered tersely. "They work hard, to become the best weapons Konoha have to offer, the best ninja in the country."

"Is that so? Well, I heard the standards of Konoha's ninja were dropping in the last few years."

"Well, that's more the Civilian Council's fault than anything... but ninja like these, they're of a different stripe. Like nothing I've ever seen before. ...Well, one of them, I've seen parts of him before, in military tacticians and army leaders and great scientists and... Him. To see those traits in such a young kid... it's impressive, but a little unnerving."

"'Him?' Who is 'Him'?" Morikiyo asked.

"Someone I... sort-of knew. I was friends with the drinking buddies of his teammate, the blonde chick. Someone besides me usually payed, so I was all for it. Still, that guy, he just... creeped me out. And I don't scare easy."

"Bandits!" Ryukatsu whispered excitedly, the burning chakra around him fading away. "Six of them, dead ahead. Weak chakra signatures, definitely non-Shinobi. Shinkiro, come with me."

"Almost done..." Shinkiro whispered, lying on her back and repeatedly raising and lowering her legs. "Sixty two... sixty three... sixty four... sixty fiiive!" She collapsed, and started panting, catching her breath. "Okay, I'm... I'm ready."

The two ninja disappeared.

"Are those two going to hog all the bandits?" Hamada asked between sets of sit-ups, left behind again.

"Kid, they're fast, your slow. But you're stronger than both of them." Kurogane said. "He's probably saving you for the big-time bandits he'll need your strength to beat, if there are any. Now go back to exercising."

"Yes, Kurogane-Sensei." Hamada said, going into a set of push-ups.

Ryukatsu and Shinkiro jumped from tree to tree, running ahead of the Caravan, until they eventually got to the waiting bandits. He decided it was about time he field-tested some Genjutsu. He performed three handseals and finished by holding the Bird seal. "Genjutsu: Distortion Sphere." He stated, a smirk forming on his lips.

A faint sphere of barely-visible blue chakra expanded outwards about fourty feet, trapping the bandits inside and altering their perception. It affected Shinkiro for a half-second, but he quickly put his palm on forehead and disrupted her chakra coils, purging the Genjutsu's effects from her system. She blinked, stunned, but quickly got over it.

* * *

Nobuo was bored. He'd been hanging out here with his friends every day as they usually did, waiting for people to walk by. They'd grab them, put a kunai to their throat and take their money... and then kill them anyway. Not just because it was fun, but because they didn't want  
anyone to know who they were. Nobuo, at least, was pretty sure his parents would kick his ass if they found out he was a bandit in his spare time. Then again, it was his life. He could do whatever he wanted with it. Sure, being a bandit was dangerous, but it was a heck of a lot  
more exciting than shucking corn! And it was, in his opinion, no more immoral than charging double the market price to people too poor or starving or too dumb to say no. Sure, he was a thief, but at least he'd admit it.

Suddenly, a strange feeling overtook him, followed by a sound, the sound of dripping water. /Drip. Drip. Drip./

They looked around for the source-

Then crouched down, clutching their ears as a sound burned through their minds, no, several sounds at once: The hideous chittering sound of insects rushing towards them, the horrified screams of a hundred dying souls, the loud crackling of flames on a burning body, the sharp sounds of metal scraping against concrete.

They saw the blurred image of a young boy in front of them, a heat haze surrounding him, the excited and wide-eyed look on his face not dissimilar to the fascinated look of a kid with a magnifying glass who had just discovered the 'joy' of burning ants alive. The boy chuckled, the sound echoing around them before burning straight through their minds like a heated kunai through butter.

He appeared behind them, all of them at once. Six copies of the boy behind each of the six bandits. "Are you feeling it?" He whispered excitedly.

And then he wasn't behind them any more, he was right there in front of them, standing around in boredom. A black blur the same size as him suddenly appeared near him, but that blur seemed much less important than the one watching them.

Rot began to form on the floor around them as the ground was torn up, thick brimstone chains rising up and binding them, dragging them tightly to the ground and forcing them into a kneeling position, bending their bodies backwards while an extra chain shot up and  
wrapped around their necks, tightening. Sharp barbed meathooks rose up from the ground and sunk into their flesh, and each bandit was suddenly set alight in order, from left to right.

Nobuo let out a choked, agonised scream. Never in his life had he experienced pain such as this!

Meanwhile, back in reality...

Ryukatsu stared at the six men of varying ages on their knees, screaming with all their might through choked-up throats and writhing around on their knees but seemingly unwilling to move from their spots.

"You're using Genjutsu on them?" Shinkiro assumed, standing in the same place as the 'black blur', because that was what the bandits saw her as.

"Yes." Ryukatsu said proudly. "Genjutsu. Illusionary worlds, events and tortures cooked up by me, the greatest playwright of all time."

"You're a playwright?" Shinkiro asked as one of the bandits threw up loudly. Shinkiro winced, a little disgusted. "Actually, this probably isn't the best time to-"

"They are actually afflicted by two Genjutsu!" Ryukatsu announced proudly. "One is my Distortion Field, a confusing world of warped perception where nothing is an absolute certainty. Its trigger works on Chakra. Normally, this requires physical contact to transfer my  
chakra into their networks, but my combined chakra control and reserves have progressed to the point where I can put Genjutsu like that inside basic chakra pulses. I didn't put much effort into hiding it, as they most likely have no chakra control at all. Thus, they cannot break any Genjutsu with a Genjutsu Kai. My second Genjutsu, the one causing them the most pain, required an Auditory Trigger, hence my earlier 'Are you feeling it?'."

"Well... alright." Shinkiro said, a little unnerved that she couldn't see why the bandits were screaming. "What are you showing them?"

"Right now? I hit them with Distortion Field and Cursed Torture Level One, so... They can't see or hear properly, everything is blurry, and only I am somewhat visible to them. Also, the torture thing... they're chained to the ground, and getting stabbed with meathooks that slowly  
tear them apart. Oh, and they're on fire. You know, basic torture stuff. It hurts, I gather. It's a field-test. I just... tossed a bunch of stuff together, trying everything at once. I want to see what works best." Ryukatsu explained, looking at the screaming men like test subjects. "Interesting... Very interesting... despite the chains closing around their throat, they continue to scream. Let's see what happens when I prevent them from screaming."

* * *

Back in his Genjutsu...

Each victim suddenly had a large jagged brown rock stuck in their mouths, functioning in a manner similar to a ball gag. Unable to talk and barely able to breathe, unable to express the intense pain they were feeling, half of them began to sob and cry silently while the other half had their minds shut down, unable to feel anything or register or notice the pain they were in. In that moment, as tears rolled down his cheeks, Nobuo regretted everything he had ever done.

"Fascinating." Ryukatsu noted, unable to look away from his victims. "Alright, that's enough science for this battle. The test subjects appear broken, any further suffering would be pointless. Besides, maintaining two genjutsu at once always was tiring."

"Titan End." Ryukatsu stated clearly. He reached into his Ninja Tool pouches and drew five blades, three kunai in his right and two in his left, held between his fingers. The illusionary chains around the bandits moved along with the meat hooks inside them, pulling them up in a kneeling position and keeping their head and chest firmly still. They didn't even bother to resist. Whatever divine power had decided it was their time, it was beyond their abilities to resist it or deny it. Their time was up. Ryukatsu crossed his arms, blades raised, then threw his arms wide, throwing his kunai at the bandits. Each one hit its mark, deeply burying themselves in their faces, right up to the hilt.

Ryukatsu frowned, and stretched his neck to the left and right. "Grab their stuff." He ordered between stretches.

Shinkiro complied, rifling through the pockets of the bandits and then getting their clothes. He helped out, and they eventually left, leaving behind nothing more than one pile of six headless bodies in their undershirts and various underwear, topped with a Flame Tag.

* * *

On their somber but quick walk back to the Caravan, Ryukatsu detonated the Flame Tag and spoke. "I'm sorry if you don't approve of my research methods, Shinkiro." Ryukatsu said soothingly, both literally(Sensor-Nin) and metaphorically(Highly perceptive) sensing that she seemed upset and a little creeped out, and guessing it was because of what she'd seen him do. "But this information could save lives. Our lives! I'm primarily a Genjutsu specialist, everything else is just a hobby on the side. And if I'm going to use my specialty well, I need to know what works and what doesn't. And for that, I must conduct tests. Research. Genjutsu is seen as being comparitively less powerful or interesting than Ninjutsu or Taijutsu. While I do not care about that, I also do not want to prove them right."

"Ryu... Do you ever wonder why we do what we do?" Shinkiro asked.

"Shinkiro, this world is a violent, dangerous and unstable meat grinder of a world where one village can spend generations soaked in blood, weeding out the weak and the nonviolent, raising the strongest and most brutal monsters possible through unnatural selection, only for an entire squadron of their best and most brutal fighters to be casually squashed by a bored and psychotic Jinchuriki. Where bandits will steal the bread off your plate just to feed their greed. Clients wealthy and influential enough to sustain us, Konoha, and our mission to protect all of The Land of Fire, can hire us for protection. But don't worry. When I change this world, I will bring an end to all war, and make this world a better place. Shinkiro, if you want to know why we do what we do... We do what we must, because we can."


	3. The Circle Of Strife

Ryukatsu began a set of eight hand seals, right outside he caravan with Shinkiro, and then tapped his foot against the ground. "Earth Clone Jutsu!" He shouted, as four rows of four earthen replicas of Ryukatsu clawed their way up out of the ground like corpses that had been raised from the dead. He chuckled.

"Rise... Rise, my terracotta army!" He shouted, throwing his arms wide. "My will made manifest in the form of unbreakable rock! The truest extension of a General's ability as a tactician and great leader, the power to have an army to command wherever he may-"

"Just give us a command, already!" The Earth Clones shouted in unison.

"Fine. You rows are now divisions. Front row, follow the Caravan closely, yet stealthily, and guard it from attackers while hiding. The rest, search the surrounding area for any bandits to kill. Loot and destroy the bodies, try not to get blood on their clothes or weapons, and bring all accumulated loot to me every twenty minutes, along with detailed accounts of all scientific observations you make while serving your purpose. Use our own custom shorthand and code, so the others won't understand. Second Row, take the left side, Third Row, take the right, and Fourth Row, find anything hiding in the trees."

"Yes, my Lord!" The sixteen Earth Clones shouted, and then disappeared.

"What was all that about?" Shinkiro asked as they walked back to their Caravan. "Elemental Clones aren't supposed to be sentient, or accept any orders or direction apart from those they're programmed with when they're made. And aren't Earth Clones are supposed to have all your strength and speed, a quarter of your endurance, and half of your chakra? Are you sure it's wise to give them something this complex to do?"

"They aren't sentient." He said, relaxing already. "I used an ordinary Earth Clone Jutsu, using my Chakra Control to bring the total chakra cost down to a tiny fraction of its usual requirements, allowing me to create sixteen rather than three or four like some average Genin with average Genin abilities. I just get lonely sometimes, so I'm pretty good with Earth Clones and Pre-Henged Earth Clones and Clone A.I.. I can program it with tactics or simple orders for my plans, or write up a comprehensive and detailed set of tactics and behavioural modifiers that can change depending on what they see and how the fight goes, or I can go the full mile and program them with personality data so detailed you'd mistake them for the real thing. Either way, all this thought takes less than a second, so why not use the best I've got? Besides, it's fun. And this way, I'm not risking anything, or missing out on anything. I'm just watching it through my Sensor-Nin radar and getting first-hand accounts of the action from people I trust."

"...Yourself?" She asked flatly, raising an eyebrow.

"Precisely. I also trust you and Hamada, of course. Kurogane, not so much."

* * *

"Why are there so many bandits on the road these days?" Morikiyo wondered as Ryukatsu and Shinkiro reappeared in the caravan.

"Because people are bastards." Kurogane growled.

"I can answer that better." Ryukatsu said, going into his lecture mode. "Due to the large size and high economic growth of Hi no Kuni, The Land of Fire, there is a very competitive market for food, clothing and even weaponry. Farmers aren't usually payed much for their work, so they either work harder, or hire help. After all, it's not uncommon for farmers to take in homeless children left with nothing due to war, and work them to death in return for some scraps to eat, and getting to sleep in the barn with the other kids. Or, those farmers give up entirely, taking up arms and becoming bandits. Those bandits attack traders, towns and caravans, and places without Shinobi guards are hit the hardest. Thus, those men, women and sometimes even children give up on their jobs and become bandits, killing and stealing to survive. Others become mercenaries, thinking that a good blade and some poison will save them from a Ninja that can breathe fire or call down lightning, summon tornadoes, cause tsunamis or rend the earth itself with a glance. All in all, ordinary civilians outside of Konoha are struggling to survive, while those inside Konoha are doing so well that they mess around with the Civilian Council partly out of greed, and partly out of boredom, I suppose. Perhaps some ridiculous belief that the way to create a perfect and peaceful word is to get rid of all Ninja, and hope the rest of the world demilitarises at the same time. Idiots. You'd think they'd be happy to live lives without having to worry about being hunted down for sport by enemy Ninja or rogue Bandits. Anyway... this world breaks the good, the pure and the creative, stains the hands of heroes with blood and war, and chews up the weak like the world's biggest meat grinder. And the circle of strife continues."

There was a pause as this sank in to everyone in the room. Kawasaki Kurogane frowned. Kids his age shouldn't talk like that. Then again, there was a lot about him that wasn't right for a kid his age.

Ryukatsu got up suddenly, inhaled deeply, and with as loud and deep and dramatic a voice he could manage, he sang, "It's the cirrrcle of striiiiife!"

"Tell me he's not going to-" Shinkiro began reluctantly.

With a grin on his face, Hamada got up and leaned closer to Ryukatsu as Shinkiro embarrassedly hid her face from view. "And it crushes all!" They both sang, and then the song began for real. The song itself sounded optimistic, lighthearted and cheerful, yet the actual words were incredibly morbid and unusual to hear coming from the mouths of two young kids. Still, with the level of talent and rehearsed-ness going on, it was likely that they'd prepared this beforehand. Then again, Ryukatsu was a playwright. He could compose songs just as easily as grand speeches or long monologues.

"You Leaf Village Ninja really are something else." Morikiyo noted with amusement between lines, leaning back and enjoying the show.

Their singing was loud, yet good, and could be heard by anyone nearby even outside the carriage.

Four bandits in their late twenties were waiting up in the trees near the road, ready to jump any promising trader or caravan. Then, they heard the singing, and decided to give that caravan a miss.

And then several kunai were thrown up into the backs of their necks by Ryukatsu's Earth Clones, who began looting the bodies before knocking them onto the road with a wet thud. They piled the bodies up, and incinerated every last trace of them with Immolation Tags before moving on. And all the while, Ryukatsu kept singing.

* * *

"Great news, team!" Ryukatsu said cheerfully once the song was done, knowing his clones had definitely gotten into position by the time his song was finished. "We don't have to worry about bandit attacks any more, because I surrounded our Caravan with a perimeter of highly-intelligent and incredibly powerful Earth Clones."

"Earth Clones?" Morikiyo asked skeptically. "I've seen that trick before. Most ninja slice through five of them at once like they're nothing."

"Not my clones." Ryukatsu said proudly, chest swelling with pride. He was dealing with a non-Shinobi Caravan merchant, so he could afford to get creative with the truth when it came to the capabilities of the Jutsu he knew. "Each one is fully equipped with my razor-sharp intellect, a full copy of my entire armoury, enough chakra control to use jutsu at one eighth of their original cost at most, thereby making their clone-sized chakra pool a moot point... And they're all as smart as me."

Kurogane facepalmed. "And I thought it was bad when there was just one of you."

A small grin appeared on Ryukatsu's face. "The best thing about me..." And then that grin grew and grew until it was so huge, it almost split his face. "Is that there's so many me's!"

A few minutes of silence followed, in which Ryukatsu meditated and pushed the boundaries of his fine chakra control by forcing the tongues of flame to extend in spiralling patterns like fireworks before retracting, Hamada and Shinkiro exercised, and Kurogane seemed to nap, though he would insist he wasn't napping, he was just... waiting.

And then Hamada broke the silence. "Hey, Ryukatsu?" Hamada asked.

"Yes?" Ryukatsu asked while still meditating. He could do both, he just had to keep his sentences short, make his words count, and have Hamada do most of the talking.

"You've been spending a lot of time with Shinkiro lately." Hamada observed.

"Shinkiro wants Sasuke, I like a Kunoichi from a different class, and..." Ryukatsu said quickly, then paused as two particularly large and thick tendrils of chakra extended from the left and right sides of his chakra aura, extending two feet forwards and wriggling slightly as they struggled to go further, before retracting back in. "We don't know who you like."

"Well, uh.., I mean, how can you pick just one?" Hamada asked with a goofy grin, but Ryukatsu noticed a little uncertainty in his voice near the start, which slowly went away, getting replaced by his usual joking around. "There's like... so many of them. It's like an All You Can Teat Buffet!"

"Hamada..." Shinkiro sighed, facepalming as Ryukatsu chuckled quietly, and Kurogane gave a small snorting sound of repressed laughter.

"Well, isn't this one going to be a huge hit with the ladies?" Morikiyo laughed.

"You bet!" Hamada said, completely certain. "My dad's a Noble, and he's on the Civilian Council. He had three wives by the age of eighteen. I want to beat that record, and get... four!"

"...Goooood luck with that." Shinkiro sighed.

"Team, go back to exercising." Ryukatsu ordered, extending three tendrils of chakra forwards two feet before pulling them back in.

"Right!" His teammates said determinedly. Shinkiro did leg-exercises, while Hamada did more push-ups.

* * *

Approximately twenty minutes later, twelve Ryukatsu Earth Clones attempted to fit into the Caravan and give accounts of their findings and observations all at once while putting down their accumulated stolen gear, the din of their loud simultaneous ramblings completely indecipherable. Fortunately, only Squad Four and Squad Two had encountered any bandits. Still, after that mistake, Ryukatsu decided to slightly stagger the intervals at which each squad reported back to him, so something like that wouldn't happen again. Squad One continued protecting the Caravan from the shadows and reported back to him every twenty-two minutes, Squad Two reported back to Ryukatsu every nineteen minutes, Squad Three reported back every twenty minutes, and Squad Four reported back every twenty-one minutes.

After sending his Earth Clone squads out once more, he smugly leaned over to Shinkiro, chakra aura still flaring up around him. "See? I told you. Science."

Kurogane facepalmed.

In the snow, there was an earthen path leading up to a Y-shaped fork in the road, with a bustling hub of trade and commerce, Hebereke, a trading hub between the crossroads that had grown into a rather large town, complete with a small casino near the back. Almost all major traders, travelers and wanderers passed through this intersection, and most chose to stop in town along the way, since it was one of the few places for miles where gambling was this big. Otafuku Gai, the Land of Fire's other main gambling hub, was several miles away from Konoha in the opposite direction.

"Kids, go enjoy the town, see what life is like outside of Konoha. We'll only be here for a few hours. Then we're back on the road home." Kurogane said. "I'll stay with the Client."

"Yes, Kurogane-Sensei." Kurogane said, bowing his head respectfully, his teammates doing the same.

"Heh. You know, I think that's the first time I've heard you address me as Sensei." Kurogane chuckled.

"We're on a mission, personal feelings should be set aside. Besides... you're actually a pretty good Sensei, when you try."

"I guess so, huh." Kurogane said, a little surprised. "Anyway, go enjoy your night on town. Or your four hours, anyway. Report back here in four hours."

"Yes, Kurogane-Sensei." The three said, and disappeared.

The three reappeared a block away, and Ryukatsu's teammates looked to him for advice. After all, he was the Leader and Strategist, and as a Sensor-Nin he was pretty much a Human Radar System. If there was something going on in this town, they trusted him to find it.

"I sense a lot of chakra and emotions flaring up unevenly in one building over there." Ryukatsu stated. "Underdeveloped chakra circulatory systems, but nobody under the age of twenty, suggesting non-Shinobi." He said, and then smiled suddenly. "Follow me, I know exactly where to go."

The gambling hall was not what Ryukatsu was expecting at all.

He was expecting poker tables, Shogi or Go tables, maybe the occasional Blackjack table, but overall, something tasteful.

Instead, he saw rigged Blackjack tables that advertised mathematically-impossible odds, walls lined with mechanical Slot Machines that undoubtedly had bad odds programmed into them, some kind of circular cage in the center of the room, and a whole lot of 'Working Girls' clad in nothing but cheap approximations of sports bras, panties and swimsuits made out of cheap fabric. In the center, surrounded by most of the gamblers, who were waving small white betting tickets in the air, there was an arena, a steel fence with a small locked gate wrapped around into a ten-foot circle, with two untrained twelve-year-old non-ninja kids fighting to the death in the middle of the cage. While they weren't fighting to the death, the fighting was still pretty brutal.

Ryukatsu saw the whole room from the doorway, and the ever-present light in his eyes went out. Shinkiro noticed and smiled, knowing what this meant. Hamada didn't notice, and he also didn't notice when Ryukatsu grabbed the two and teleported them a few feet outside.

* * *

_Two minutes later..._

Somebody that appeared to be a forest-green-haired version of Iruka-Sensei with no nose-scar and a sharp green beard combed into two jagged prongs strolled up to the center arena, flanked by a plain-looking thirty-something purple-haired version of a Civilian baker Shinkiro's mother was friends with, and a slightly chubby fourty-something man with a shock of off-white hair with two thick butter-yellow streaks at the front like horns and a plain steel double-headed axe at his back. "Yo, I'm Kamidere Kamibento, this here is my Best Man, Takoyaki, and my totally smokin' soon-to-be wife, Chiyute. We're here for one night of face-melting sweetness, before we get married. 'Sup?"

"Hi." The Guard stated flatly, not welcoming in the slightest. "What're you here for?"

"Yo, do I look like someone from this town? What're you even sayin'?" Ryukatsu/'Kamidere' asked, getting the accent from a few books he once read, an accent that was spelled phonetically, as if the book wanted its readers to learn the accent. "Ah'm from outta town, heard this place had the hottest tables, but that don't mean ah know what ah'm here for. What's this place got?"

"We've got the hottest something, alright." The Guard said, amusedly. "Now hand over any weapons you might be carrying, and take your pick."

"Kuso!" Ryukatsu thought in panic, but 'Kamidere Kamibento' kept a straight face, reached towards the kunai-holster at his hip, and with a sleight-of-hand movement too fast for a non-Sharingan eye to see, he grabbed a kunai from one of the bags on him that were concealed by his transformative Genjutsu. He handed the kunai over to the guard, noticing the guard's raised eyebrow. "It's a kunai, or as normal cool cats call 'em, a huge-ass knife. Good enough for them Mist bastards, good enough for me, I say."

"Whatever. I don't ask questions, I just take weapons." The Guard admitted. "Speaking of which, you there, give me your axe."

Ryukatsu sensed that Hamada seemed uncomfortable with the idea of giving up his axe, so the ninja scientist decided to improvise.

"Long day, huh?" Ryukatsu/'Kamibento' asked, a few white feathers appearing and floating lazily around the Guard. The Guard ignored everything, went over to the far wall, leaned up against it and dozed off. "Object concealment." Ryukatsu stated again, and Hamada's 'Totally Normal Steel Axe' disappeared completely.

Kamidere walked up to the center of the room, approaching the betting tables. "Hey, what'll it be?"

Kamidere smirked, extending both arms dramatically. "Yo... If you're wond'rin' what ah'm bettin'... Ah bet... This'll all be over soon."

A Genjutsu-laden Chakra Pulse expanded from him, affecting everyone in the room, except for himself and his teammates.

Every single person in that building(Apart from Ryukatsu and his teammates) suddenly thought they were alone in a dark and cold dungeon, a hard and slightly-frosted-over stone floor beneath them, sturdy steel bars in front of them, and only the tiniest of faintly-flickering candles inside iron lanterns clutched in their hands for heat and warmth. A single loud, repetitive noise burned through their minds so loudly that they couldn't hear or think of anything else: Water slowly dripping from somewhere in the darkness. Each of them had been here for as long as they could remember, and the chains around them were cold and hard, but they didn't mind. After all, it'd all be over soon.

That single sentence kept running through their weary and tired minds as repetitively as the dripping water, unable to think of anything else.

Ryukatsu/'Kamidere Kamibento' began rifling through everyone's pockets at high speeds, taking handfuls and wads of cash and shoving them into his many pockets and pouches, while tossing Flame Tags around the room at key strategic locations, planning to detonate them to cover his tracks. "Team, take their money! I sense that everyone here is some variety of cheating, no-good criminal, and they deserve this! When we leave, I'll release the Genjutsu and burn this den of sin down, but everyone will survive. Go!"

His teammates, still in their Henge disguises, began going through everyone's pockets, not bothering to argue.

Ryukatsu went through a set of handseals and summoned five rows of five Earth Clones, each one looking like 'Kamidere' but with a differently-coloured headband wrapped around their head. The First Row was forest-green, the second was brown, the third was sky-blue, the fourth was cloud-white, and the fifth was sunset-red. Already programmed with instructions, they held out their arms as Ryukatsu reached into the seals inside his pockets and tossed two empty Weapons Scrolls to each of his Earth Clones, and Rows One through Three began going through the pockets of everyone in the crowded Casino and putting all the money they could find into every last seal in those rolled-up scrolls. When the seals were full, they unrolled the scroll more and put the money in deeper. Squads Four and Five got to work on the Casino's vault.

Squads Four and Five formed a perimeter around a large bank vault room with a keypad door while a lone member of Squad Five peered closely at the Keypad, and the old-looking off-green four-numbered monochrome LCD display screen above it.

He knew this type of lock. It was a good one, and even he'd have trouble blowing the lock off its hinges without damaging the money and goods behind it. He'd have to figure out the Keypad's code to get inside. He'd read about this type of lock: Three wrong choices, and the lock sealed itself shut for fifteen minutes. Breaking this lock may take a while... Then again, he could always easily break through an unprotected wall or tunnel through the ground, and he did have the jutsu for doing those in a snap, but it just wouldn't have been as much fun.

Noticing that the 'Seven', 'Eight' and 'One' buttons were worn away much more than the others, he surmised that the code contained those three numbers. He arranged the numbers around into different possibilities, taking into account the Casino Owner's age and that it was most likely either his birthday or the date he bought/'Acquired' the Casino, before finding three combinations that would work as a date. 1/7/81, 7/7/81 and 7/1/81. The /81 was certain; a sufficiently skilled Sensor-Nin could tell the exact age of any person by looking at their chakra coils if they knew what to look for, and Ryukatsu hadn't been wrong about that yet. The three possibilities were mostly guesswork, but while a Seven had to be in there somewhere, a One was less likely to be there. After all, seven and three were considered lucky numbers, while 'One' had a ring of loneliness to it that few would choose.

Then again, Ryukatsu could almost smell the idiocy and narcissism coming from that Casino-owner, but nowhere near as much greed or sentimentality as he'd expected. The man's own birthday still remained a very solid choice.

The lone Ryukatsu typed in the first possibility. 7/1/81.

Incorrect. He typed in the second possibility, 7/7/81.

The huge door swung open lazily, perfectly-balanced so they were as light as a feather. Correct? Odd. He was expecting the third one to be correct, when everything was riding on it. Ah, well, seven was considered a lucky number anyway.

All boxes on the list had been ticked. The doors were unlocked. The lone Ryukatsu shouted out, "It's open!" and Rows Four and Five of Ryukatsu's Clone Army ran inside to steal everything that wasn't nailed down. Sixteen new Ryukatsu Earth Clones in white-and-purple-striped headbands ran into the Casino Vault, while Ryukatsu quickly tossed empty Sealing scrolls to them, to help out with rapid looting.

Eventually, every last Ryo Coin, Ryo note, Casino Chip, Bar of Gold Bullion and valuable or otherwise-shiny object had been taken, leaving behind a bare and worthless building with a few empty roulette tables here and there. All the decks of cards had also been stolen, every slot machine had been dimantled and stripped bare, and even four whole roulette tables were gone. The others were smashed, to make the Casino's destruction appear a little more natural. All of Ryukatsu's clones placed Weapons Sealing Scrolls inside Weapons Sealing Scrolls, until there were only four scrolls left. The original Ryukatsu put them all inside a weapons scroll sealed in a seal inscribed within the inside of his pocket that was already half-filled with kunai, and then he remembered something.

Ryukatsu, still disguised, went over to the sleeping guard at the entrance, and roughly yanked his own kunai back.

The disguised Ryukatsu took one last look at the Casino, before tossing four final immolation tags at each corner. "May this experience make you all better people... Yo." He said, and walked out of the building, followed by his teammates.

Nine seconds after they left...

The building burst into flames, and everyone inside woke up with absolutely no recollection of anything that had happened in the past hour. Including, and especially, what had happened during the effects of that Genjutsu. They quickly fled the burning building, not bothering to ask questions. Fire was funny like that, appealing to the baser instincts of humans. Perfect for getting rid of people, in more ways than one.

With the mission completed and a sizeable bonus already in the young Genin's pockets, Team 13 left for Konoha.

Team 13, now unofficially known as Ryukatsu's Ultimate Squad of Flawless Victory And Doom, was feeling pretty good about their first mission. The client got to his destination without ever encountering the slightest fraction of danger, they didn't encounter anything they  
couldn't handle, and everything went far, far better than Kawasaki was expecting.

"Well, that was boring." Ryukatsu said as the four ninja quickly jumped from tree to tree, heading back home with the rest of his team.

"Kid, you murdered more bandits than any Genin I've ever seen before." Kawasaki stated flatly, checking to see if the young Genin would say something like 'Oh, yes, I suppose that was fun'. Something that'd show him to have some kind of actual mental instability. Any kid capable of what he was capable of had to be messed up in some way.

Ryukatsu saw through this obvious ploy in less than a half-second. "I showed exceptional skill and forethought in attacking the bandits on the road long before they could get to my client." Ryukatsu recited, as if reading from a guidebook on good qualities a Ninja should have. "I didn't just rush in blindly, I formed a plan, I set things up ahead of time, I held all the cards and stacked the odds in my favour, I struck from the shadows, I used Genjutsu and quick kills, and I always had Shinkiro with me as a safety net. I told her to hide in the trees, and kill my oponents if I did not kill them first within the first five seconds. In every way, I was the perfect-"

"Yeah, yeah, you were great." Kawasaki said dismissively. "Don't worry, I'll make sure the Hokage knows how great you were."

"Thank you, Kawasaki-Sensei." Ryukatsu said, smiling gratefully.

Kawasaki Kurogane was surprised at how it felt, to be liked, appreciated. That was why he was going to tell the young kid what he needed to know. "One more thing..." Kurogane said. "Ryukatsu... Unofficially, a lot of the higher-ups know all about your... activities."

Ryukatsu's face didn't change at all. _Crap!_ He yelled inside his own mind. "What activities?" Ryukatsu asked innocently.

"Thefts." Kawasaki said casually. "People getting hit with knockout gas just before some thief steals their wallets. Crates of stuff going missing from shops. Officially, they're completely oblivious. Mainly because you never leave any evidence behind, most shopkeepers who actually notice their missing stuff try and fail to blame that Naruto kid, and you're usually seen tearing a Training Area apart whenever these crimes take place. But we all know how good you are with Earth Clones... Though how you made dumb clones with enough Clone A.I. to handle something as complex as the kind of thefts you've started to pull off, I'll never know. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you left some Earth Clones behind to steal stuff while you're out here on this mission, using us as the ultimate alibi."

Oh, good, they only know about the thefts. Ryukatsu thought in relief, his face still not changing, refusing to give away absolutely anything. They don't know about the animals, or my secret room, or my lab, or... anything big or important, really. "Why are you telling me this?" He asked flatly.

"Look, the main reason I'm telling you this is because people are starting to notice. Unless you want ANBU tailing you 24/7, instead of just occasionally, I suggest you find some higher-ups and make some friends, and soon. Do something for them, make them owe you one. And I have absolutely no idea what happened to the Casino, and neither does anyone here. But most of all... Tone things down before you get caught. You're getting away with it so far because there's never any proof... but off the record, I'll admit that ANBU do know how to plant evidence. Stealing small amounts from civilians and 'Getting carried away' while fighting unknown no-name bandits while unobserved is one thing, but if your 'Science' crosses any lines, or if you ever try to murder a fellow Konoha Ninja... they won't find your body."

"Understood." Ryukatsu said with a nod, forcing himself to appear shaken. "I take it this conversation never happened?"

"Of course." Kawasaki stated.

They picked up the pace, and the rest of the trip was silent. Everyone began pushing themselves so hard that they occasionally chipped or cracked wood from the tree branches they jumped off, and nobody was about to waste time talking. The mission was over, and now they all just wanted to go home.

Ryukatsu, in particular, couldn't wait to get home. After all, despite that rather ominous threat from Kurogane... His preparations were almost complete.

* * *

Ryukatsu's home was a fairly large house in one of the better-off areas of Konoha, one that had been with the Shogun family since his grandfather picked it up during the war and spent quite a bit of money(For the time) upgrading the house and getting it up to his standards. They weren't spectacularly rich, but money wasn't really an issue. Still, they all loathed waste, so they weren't going to turn down Hamada's offers of financial aid. The building was a tall, imposing three-storey house with blackout curtains ready to be pulled across over every reinforced-glass window, sheets of metal behind the traditional wooden exterior, and its own personal farm behind it, a farm that provided them with high-quality vegetables, and had multiple greenhouses and sprinkler systems, as well as separate greenhouses to grow particular flowers and plants frequently used in powerful poisons. Admittedly, their collection of flowers wasn't as good as the Yamanaka's, but it was enough to get them by, and have enough left over to sell to allies in cheap off-the-books transactions. In four of the rooms on the upper floor, there was a room filled with their own personal brewery and fermentation kit set up to make some of the strongest and most expensive alcohol known to Konoha and all of Hi no Kuni, and the house's own alphabetized library was enough to rival the Konoha's Public Library, though the book choices weren't exactly varied. They had historical wars covered in detail, biographies of great Ninja, high-level battlefield-affecting scrolls for Earth-Style Jutsu Ryukatsu still didn't have the raw chakra for, and questionable romance stories he wasn't supposed to know they had. That was all. No comedies, no slice-of-life books, and certainly no Icha Icha Paradise. Their hidden shelf had an unusual and very noticeable empty space where that book would be, if any of them bought it after reading it. It was as if, to them, the empty space was an insult to the book, its author, and the old saying 'It's better than nothing'.

Ryukatsu's father, the semi-legendary Kyukyokuryu Shogun, was a Ninja and former military general, and a 'rival' to Shikaku Nara, insofar as much as anyone could be rivals with a lazy Nara. Admittedly, Shikaku wasn't as bad as his son. And it wasn't quite as one-sided as the famous rivalry between Might Gai and Kakashi Hatake, but it wasn't far off. While he was in the Bingo Book, his bounty still fell short of Kakashi's, something that irked the man to this day. He had dark brown hair combed and sculpted back and to the right, revealing his forehead and receding hairline, dashes of grey lines visible. He was clad in an average Konoha dark-green Ninja outfit, simply because the thing was strangely comfortable to him. Ryukatsu was starting to feel the same way about his own flak vest, unusually enough.

His mother, Tairyo Hakaiheiki, made and sold high-end weaponry, and owned one of the best forges in town. Her shop was more for high-end Ninja with large amounts of money and specific weapons in mind, or swordsmen who wanted their swords perfectly balanced and shortened/lengthened to match the length of their arm, or for rich nobles looking for something to show off. Certainly not for common run-of-the-mill dime-a-dozen late-twenties Chunin-for-life Ninja who just wanted to pick up a new Kunai and ten Shuriken, not at the prices she charged. She had her rosewood hair, the exact same shade as Ryukatsu's, in a short messy lop-sided style that spiked to the right, an average mauve shirt, and tan leather trousers. When working, she'd put a thick white apron over it, but she wasn't working now.

As Kyukyokuryu faked a 'Proud father' look and gazed down at his son and studied his face for microexpressions, Tairyo immediately grabbed her son in a tight hug, and while they could both sense it coming, he didn't bother to dodge. Her own chakra subtly leaked into his body wherever their skin made contact, to try and penetrate any mental shields he had so she could get to the core of his chakra circulatory network as she smiled proudly and asked, "So, Ryukatsu, how was your first mission?"

"It was awesome, mom!" Ryukatsu said happily, hugging her a little tighter, safe in the knowledge that his chakra skills were so far beyond hers, she could be grabbing his forehead with one hand and his heart with another, and she could be pouring all she had into it, yet it still wouldn't change that she was seeing what he wanted her to see, and not what she suspected she'd see. He was a happy, smart young kid whose first mission had been fun and informative. "We were attacked by bandits a few times, but Shinkiro and I kicked their butts!"

"Just you and Shinkiro?" His father asked. "What about that little noble boy, Hamada?"

"He had to stay with the client, while we ran on ahead to neutralize the threat before it posed any risk to the client."

"Look at you, my little master tactician!" Tairyo said, overjoyed, as she ruffled his hair, going straight for his brain, trying to feel what was going on inside it directly. She was no Yamanaka, but a Sensor-Nin with sufficient experience with brains could 'Feel' things that a Yamanaka could 'Read', though sensing anything more precise than emotions or intent was impossible without proper training.

_Nice try, but no._ Ryukatsu thought.

"Mom!" Ryukatsu laughed, teleporting away by using Shunshin no Jutsu and reappearing a few feet away. He then combed his back hair with his hands, trying to get it to the perfectly-maintained pushed-back style he had just a few moments before. "I'm thirteen now, and I'm a Genin! I'm old enough to drink, get married, and do all sorts of other dumb stuff that old people do."

"You could be old enough to fight in wars, and yet you'd still be my son." Tairyo said happily. Kyukyokuryu's smile faltered for a moment.

"Anyway, I have to go. I'm a real Ninja now, and I need to study. Sure, I'm awesome now, but I could always be more awesome!" He said with a grin.

"...That's the spirit!" Kyukyokuryu said uncertainly, trying to look enthusiastic.

As he left them and jogged upstairs, the happy looks faded from their faces.

"Anything?" Kyukyokuryu asked his wife.

"No." Tairyo said solemnly. "I felt the emotions of a happy, healthy young boy. ...I felt the exact emotions of a happy, healthy, _different_ young boy with a slightly different chakra type, faked and replicated perfectly, right down to the last flicker of chakra. He showed me what he wanted me to see, but not what was actually there."

"Tairyo, it's alright-" Kyukyokuryu began.

"How can it be fine?" She demanded. "Our own son isn't just hiding something from us, he's perfected it to the point where he could fool anyone! Which normally wouldn't be so bad, because 'Yay, another new skill!'. Except he's even hiding his true self from us, his own parents!"

"Maybe." He shrugged.

"'Maybe'?" She asked in surprise. "How can you be so calm?"

"He's a Shogun." He said simply. "We might not be a Ninja Clan, but we know what we're doing. If he's hiding himself from us, he has a plan. And forcing him to open up to you, or worse, threatening and demanding he do so, would just mess up whatever plan he has. If his plan needs us to be unwitting pawns, then so be it. Don't worry, no viable plan available to him exists where it would be even remotely beneficial for anything bad to happen to us."

"I guess... Still, how do we know he's not going through something bad right now?" She asked.

"If there was something wrong, he'd tell us, or solve it within the first few minutes he became aware of the problem." He said, completely certain. "He'll open up to you when he's ready. And until then, pretend you've fell for his 'Normal' act like most of the others. The Chunin Exams are coming up in a few months, so if he has something new to reveal, he'll do it there."

* * *

Ryukatsu tried to ignore the concern of his parents that burned in his mind and registered on his internal Sensor-Nin radar as blindingly bright dark-blue flames behind him, as he went upstairs into his bedroom, teleporting past the locked door that had been laced with seals to ensure only he could get past it. He had something important to do, something more important than repeatedly mulling over how his own parents seemed to be so annoyingly concerned over him, as if he was turning into some kind of monster. Him, a monster?! Ridiculous. He was a Ninja, and a scientist. He had no time for petty emotions like sadness, so he didn't allow himself the chance to succumb to them.

He looked at the single large mauve-duveted bed, the three high stacks of assorted books in the corner, and his walk-in closet. He entered his walk-in closet, which had seals hidden inside to make it semi-invisible to any Sensor-Nin, and even the Byakugan. Any Hyuuga who looked at it would see the room as a block of solid blue. Suitable for privacy, but certainly not stealth. These seals were usually seen on bedrooms or closets of sufficiently-skilled Ninja or sufficiently-rich couples who desired privacy, and so it wasn't too unusual for someone like him to use them on his walk-in closet. While concealed, Ryukatsu formed a single Earth Clone, and then used Shunshin no Jutsu. The real him disappeared, and his clone grabbed a brown ascot, put it on, left the closet, and picked up one of the books he'd borrowed from the library, turning to the fourth chapter of a very complex book on the inner workings of Chakra coils. Hidden inside that book, there was the latest chapter of a manga he secretly loved. He sat on his bed, and began reading with a forced bored expression.

The real Ryukatsu appeared in the house's basement, a large cubic thirty-foot room with two full bookshelves on each wall. - There was also a writing desk, a stack of blank books, and a stack of paper notes. A place where Ryukatsu could write his biography and life-story. Due to the need for evidence, anyone who found this room would be forced to pick up and read every book... even the books in which he'd hidden sketches of himself, paragraphs of purposefully-awful fiction, unusual ideas for stories and plays(Roadtrip-esuqe story about Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha kicking ass across the Ninja world as they consider the viability of creating a Hidden Village, and go through the events that inspired them to create this village, Musical about Hashirama Senju's creation of the Hidden Leaf Village, complete with epic musical number for the village's actual creation, movie starring a Ryukatsu parallel and his ultra-awesome fight against bandits in an alternate world with no hidden villages, Musical starring simple lowly farmers/farmhands who become boat racers and win a boat race through pure hard work and determination, ect), and Mind-Rupturing Seals. He went to the left bookshelf on the east wall, pulled out a certain book-

A trigger activated, and a stone panel on the floor slid open, revealing a stone staircase into what was once a Bunker.

He went down the stairs, into a fully-stocked emergency bunker with a permanently-sealable entrance and enough nonperishable food and supplies to last him and two others fifteen whole years, or only himself approximately thirty years. Of course, he already kept a large amount of supplies in his sealing scrolls, so the bunker would just be a nice bonus, and a good room.

He crouched down to the ground, and used Shunshin no Jutsu once again.

He reappeared in his Secret Room, which was about twenty feet underground and hidden from ordinary view by stronger seals, and the fact that it was deep underground. It was harder to sense things beyond enough solid walls, and the thick densely-packed dirt made a great Faraday cage to keep his things secret.

His Secret Room was strange, unusual, questionable, but not illegal. And best of all, it came straight from the pages of one of his favourite books. He didn't think he really had a taste for this sort of thing, but he'd seen it done in many books, and he did admittedly find it all to be quite... fascinating. If someone broke into his house and searched for his Lab, he'd rather they find this, instead of something genuinely incriminating.

The thirty-foot-by-thirty-foot room was dark, dimly illuminated by small dull white lamps that flickered on when they sensed chakra, along with also sending an otherwise-undetectable signal to him whenever someone entered the room. The room was covered in chakra-masking seals to ensure no Sensor-Nin in the world could find this place. There was a wide ten-foot-cubed open space in the middle. Thick black chains hung from the ceiling. Nearby, to the right, there was a lone operating table for live patients to be strapped into, with tight leather straps to keep them strapped in securely. In the corner of the room, there was a coat rack with fake labcoats for men and women, an incredibly skimpy bikini-esque version of a woman's labcoat, and a lot of mismatched spare women's skimpy and lacy underwear he'd actually bought from a store while disguised, not that anyone who saw this room would think that. On the wall, he had a weapons rack filled with whips, riding crops, bullwhips, two of every kind of gag, horse bridle and dog collar, a series of handcuffs, both steel, fuzzy, and seal-enhanced chakra-negating steel, extendable segmented whip-swords capable of extending from a five-foot sword to a twenty-foot whip, and rolls and rolls of rope and steel wire.

Ryukatsu wasn't sure why, but looking at this room always made him smile. Perhaps it was the thought of how anyone else would react to seeing it. Then again, this room was just for show. This was his Secret Room... but it wasn't his secret lab.

He reached into the seal in his right pocket, and pulled out a Sealing scroll. He opened it up, pulling out four feet of sealing paper from it, and he reached into one of the many average-looking seals. He pulled out another Sealing Scroll. He repeated this process four more times before finding his target, and pulling it out:

In his hand, stacked like a deck of cards, he had sixty-four unusually-intricate sealing tags, each covered with over twenty tiny seals.

He put the scrolls he'd used on the operating table, and threw the first tag to the ground, four feet in front of him. He threw another tag directly behind him at precisely the same distance. A bright blaze of blue chakra ignited around his feet, and a thin thread of blue chakra connected the two tags, Then he threw down the left tag, then the right tag. Lines of chakra connected those tags to him, and to each other in the shape of a cross inside a diamond. After that, he started to throw each tag to the ground in a square-shape around him in a seemingly random order, an order that made sense to nobody but him. This order had to be perfect, or the Jutsu would either not work, or take him to one of his pre-prepared false rooms, designed to throw suspicion off him if he was forced to use this Jutsu. Chakra connected each and every tag to the other tags and to Ryukatsu, and he could feel the power burning around him. His favourite part about this jutsu was how no chakra was wasted or released, it was all used by the tags, so not even the most sensitive of Sensor-Nin could detect even the slightest trace of this technique. Which was good, because this technique was supposed to be forbidden,  
on account of its high chakra consumption, its riskiness, and its near-impossibly-high level of complexity. This technique, which was once theorised by the Fourth Hokage, was so complex that even the smarter members of the Three Legendary Sannin could not get it to work at an acceptable level. Though, in their defence, it wasn't exactly high on their list of priorities.

Ryukatsu studied the jutsu for twelve seconds(A long time, for him)before realising that he could fix the chakra-consumption problem by adding even more tags and seals into the jutsu, and using the links between each tag as a stabilizing point. This also made the jutsu even  
more complex, far beyond the realm of an average human mind, but that didn't really bother him.

The square was now complete, with all sixty-four seals down and interconnected. His chakra flared up again, as a black void started to spread out from his feet, spreading out until it reached the tags. He smiled. High-level Space-Time Ninjutsu always was delightfully complex.

He looked down into the void, taking in what he had accomplished. ?. Dark Room. His own personal room, one that existed on another dimension that only he could access. It was a shame that jutsu couldn't be used in combat. And that he couldn't reveal his ability to use it to anyone else, since this was supposed to be forbidden.

Ryukatsu formed some handseals and created eight Earth Clones, with orders to protect the seals with their lives. If even one of those seals were damaged or knocked even slightly out of alignment, he could be trapped in his own pocket-dimension forever. Or until he used the  
backup-seals or backup-backup seals he also kept with him at all times. Still, he'd prefer the seals remain intact, if only for the sake of convenience.

Standing atop his own tiny section of the void, he got down on one knee and charged more chakra into it. He slowly started to sink down into the portal-

He sank up through the floor of a dark black-purple void in all directions, with only thin grey lines signifying a cubic room sixty feet in size where the walls and floor met to show that the room wasn't completely endless. The room felt slightly cold, as if the sun hadn't shone there for a long time, and the portal to the real world combined with Ryukatsu's chakra was the only thing making this room warm enough to enter.

The seemingly-infinite black-purpleness and emptiness of the room seemed to stretch on forever around him, the thin grey lines the only thing reminding him of where the room's entrance was. Not that it really mattered, since he could create a new door anywhere. Oh, how he loved this place. As a side-effect to the jutsu, he could also manipulate how time spent here matched up to reality. If he wanted to, he could spend ten years researching, reading and studying, only to leave and find that ten minutes had passed in reality, and show up in the real world ten years older, which would most definitely raise questions. Or, he could do the smart thing, and leave Earth Clones behind to perform ten years of research and examination, and reap the fruits of his/their labour after ten short minutes, then pop back to the real world and exploit whatever he and his clones had discovered in the real , technically, both worlds were equally real, but he found himself thinking of the world with the sun, the sea, the trees and the books and his friends as reality.

Ryukatsu raised his arm in front of him with an upturned palm, and his laboratory slowly rose up around him from the dark room's floor. Ten empty operating tables rose up a few feet behind him, shelves of mostly-empty animal cages like those found at a Pound rose up and took up the entire left wall. The right wall was filled with both normal-looking cupboards rigged to actually contain mostly-empty weapon racks, mannequins for heavily stylised yet fully functional armour; and full bookshelf after full bookshelf, each shelf almost completely filled with books and scrolls containing thoughts, plants, jutsu, research notes on medical experiments and jutsu, stratagems, defense plans for defending the Leaf in case of an emergency, plans of attack for destroying the villages of Mist, Stone, Sand and Cloud, plans of attack for destroying the other, smaller villages, plans for a dedicated 'Royal Guard'-esque band of fighters and ninja dedicated to protecting him and following his orders, plans for forming his own personal army in Leaf in a way that'd go completely undetected by ANBU, plans and schematics for puppets, war-machines, and siege weaponry, weapons and devices to go into the puppets, and powerful seal-enhanced weapons for himself or his teammates to use. All in all, it was clear that Hamada's Golden Sunrise was not the first, and certainly not the last of his weaponry.

The ninja scientist walked over to his cages, observing his latest experiments: Three cages each filled with fourteen rats, linked up to automatic dispensers to give every cage a small amount of rat meat every day, just enough to feed them all while still keeping them hungry enough to consider eating their roommates. There was something unusual about these rats, apart from how he'd artificially and genetically modified each one to live, grow, breed and die faster: each one had a large, unblinking human-sized Sharingan on their backs, mostly Two-Tomoed ones, but he did notice a few Three-Tomoed Sharingans in there.

Directly beneath those rats, there was a row of cages filled with water tanks, with handles and hinges rigged to slide in and out easily. In those tanks, he had starfish, and each one had a two-tomoed Sharingan on each limb. This was where he implanted the Sharingans from the dead rats(The dead rats that hadn't already been eaten by the others, anyway), and judging from how each starfish was fully intact, and still had all five Sharingans, despite how one of the scrolls on his bookshelf was filled with starfish limbs with implanted Sharingans...

"Eeeeexcellent." Ryukatsu said smugly to himself, voice shaking slightly from how internally-overjoyed he was. It had worked! It had actually worked! Using the DNA he took from Sasuke during their fight, he was able to create a Sasuke clone. He was then able to modify that clone to grow and die faster. Using Genjutsu, he was able to trick the cloned Sasuke, and his eyes, into thinking he had fulfilled all the spectacularly hateful and typically-baneful(Though there was a few rare exceptions) conditions and tasks required for upgrading his Sharingan to its highest form. The result? The Sasuke clone - Not just a 'Clone', the slang term for a replica created by the assorted Elemental Clone Jutsus, but an actual physical clone made from flesh and grown in a lab - who was aged twenty-something after just a few weeks, unintentionally died of malnutrition and was fed to his cannibalistic Sharingan rats to dispose of evidence in a way that took much less effort than detonating an immolation tag. On a more cheerful note, Ryukatsu now had two Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan eyes held in stasis inside a scroll somewhere in his lab. Repeating this process four more times(And taking care to feed his clones better this time), he gained eight similar eyes, and decided to keep them all in stasis until he'd completely ran out of other options, which was likely to never happen. Yes, the Sharingan was powerful, but the whole overuse-inflicts-blindness-upon-self thing was just all kinds of redundant, self-defeating, and ultimately stupid. Besides, several of the Uchiha jutsu were equally stupid. Ryukatsu didn't know the jutsu's names, but his Medical Examination Jutsu told him the precise capabilities of each eye. The black flames thing could be replicated by a high-rank fire jutsu or lava jutsu... or even a lightning jutsu. Few people realised just how hot lightning could get(Although, the whole 'Burns continuously for two weeks, cannot be extinguished by normal means, burns hot enough to burn water and even regular fire, and requires complex sealing jutsu to seal away' thing... that would be harder to replicate). The ribcage-shield thing could be replicated by simple barrier jutsu. The samurai-esque dark chakra armour? Pure solidified chakra moulded into an ugly-looking samurai thing. He was already working on chakra armour like that(And his would definitely look way better. He wouldn't be happy with it or willing to use it in combat until it did), without relying on lame, self-defeating and easily-recognizable eyes like Sharingan. Besides, being seen in public with those evil-looking things on him would raise far too many questions.

Still, science like this was necessary, for the betterment of humanity, and for him to reach his goal. His ambition.

And as a testament to his desire to make things better, he'd stopped making Sasuke clones, and began animal experimentation. It didn't seem to be that profitable an alternate path, but it certainly required less food or money. Sure, neither of those were really a problem with Hamada around, but the ninja scientist was still a chronic perfectionist. And a whole lot of other things, but he didn't care that much about the other things.

He hoped his experiments on the Byakugan would prove more fruitful. He'd heard it was some kind of offshoot from the original Senju DNA, which was neat. Plus, the wide-range 360-degree vision thing was interesting, even though there couldn't be much point in implanting Byakugan into himself. He was a Sensor-Nin, he already had a second-sight ability, he didn't need someone else's weird-looking eyes to achieve another one. Some might think it would let him use Jyuuken, but there was a fact contrary to what most people in Konoha believed, a fact so great that the Hyuuga clan would likely kill to prevent it from getting out, a fact several Ninja probaly already knew, since the Hyuuga have been around for quite a while. And that fact was... Anyone could do Jyuuken, if they could remember where the body's Tenketsu and pressure points were. So, basically, pretty much any Medical Ninja, or any Ninja with decent memory. Ryukatsu hadn't bothered to practice or perfect Jyuuken because... well, for one thing, it didn't match his fighting style at all. And secondly, he didn't feel like opening up that particular can of worms just yet. It'd come in handy if he decided to destroy the Hyuuga for whatever reason, or rebuild the Hyuuga on his side, but for now, he'd rather have the actual clan on his side. Even if they could definitely benefit from dropping their precious 'Sacred traditional tradition' and getting with the times already. ...Ryukatsu decided to save that for AFTER he'd helped Hinata rise to the top of the Hyuga Clan. She seemed unusually kind, sweet, and reasonable. She'd definitely... she'd probably agree to his suggestions on ways to make the Hyuuga Clan stronger, if he phrased it right. 'It could save a fellow Clansman's life some day'(That'd work), 'All living things must change and adapt to survive'(That one, probably not so much), 'Everyone would be so focused on your completely-justified attempts to have the Caged Bird Seal abolished, nobody would care about a few minor deviations from tradition here and there'(He'd use that to underscore the first point), etcetera, blah blah blah, and so on and so forth.

Ryukatsu formed an Earth Clone, handed the Hinata Hyuuga DNA over to him, formed two more Earth Clones, and while his clones started working on it at his Research Table, starting things off by looking at a few drop's worth of cells under a microscope, monitoring everything and taking notes on everything, the original Ryukatsu decided to go over his plans for Konoha, and the world.

**Subject One: Clans.**  
Before the Uchiha Massacre, the Uchiha and Hyuuga were the two main clans of Konoha. Long before that, it was the Uchiha and Senju. Now, the Uchiha was gone, and the Hyuuga... had yet to seize too much power. Was there some kind of deal going on, or were they simply  
biding their time? Or perhaps, ANBU or ROOT had something to do with it. Ryukatsu briefly considered helping another clan to rise in the rankings and get to the point where they could rival the Hyuuga... Then again, they appeared to make a nice distraction for the ANBU... Wait, no they didn't. He was still under surveillance, even though he was just a Genin. The Hyuuga(Or maybe just its head) probably had some kind of deal going on behind the scenes, a good deal, so they were unlikely to try anything against Konoha. That'd be like biting the hand that fed them. However, if another clan were to suddenly rise in power to the point where they could rival them, threatening their monopoly on power... well, that'd give them a reason to try things, and it'd give ANBU something to waste time trying to stop. Eeeexcellent. The less eyes on him, the better.

**Subject Two: Kage.**  
The first Hokage was Hashirama Senju, who spent his life creating the village and unifying the clans. The second Hokage was a warrior and strategist, who helped win wars and secure Konoha as a both a major world superpower and one of the Great Ninja Villages. The third Hokage was of the Sarutobi clan. He hadn't found anything big regarding the Sarutobi clan/family before the old guy became Hokage, so he was likely chosen because he was both a neutral party and an immensely powerful and intelligent Shinobi. A great figurehead leader to deal with paperwork and draw attention away from ANBU and ROOT. The Fourth Hokage... Now he was awesome. Even if his badass-looking Hirashin-Kunai could easily be replaced by casting the Substitution Jutsu on regular Kunai, or just using Shunshin no Jutsu a lot. The Fourth Hokage was an awesome, charismatic, badass war-hero with so much skill and power, many enemy villages actually had instructions to 'Make a Tactical Retreat'(Run the hell away) if they even saw him on the same battlefield as them. Why did he have to sacrifice himself to kill the Kyuubi? There were literally hundreds of things he could have done instead. He could have cut it up, he could have used Hirashin to teleport it a few thousand miles into the air and then drop it on its head, he could have sealed it into a sword, or best of all... He could have fought and stalled it with the help of his village for a few hours while either he or the fastest Ninja under his command ran to Mist, Lightning or Stone, and tossed a Hirashin Kunai at their village. He could then use Hirashin to teleport the Nine-Tails to an enemy village, letting THEM deal with a rampaging monster. And to prevent any of that stupid Jinchuriki nonsense(An incredibly powerful demonic monster sealed within one unstable ninja almost guaranteed to develop severe issues somewhere along the line. In return for kage-defeating, battalion-slaughtering, village-levelling power, the Jinchuriki has to deal with having the aforementioned monster inside their brains forever, clawing away at their sanity until they snap completely and allow the monster to go free and destroy their own village just to make the pain stop. WHAT could POSSIBLY go wrong?!), he could send a few squads of Ninja there along with it, to ensure they didn't seal it into anyone. Mist Ninja were already psychos, he metaphorically shuddered to think what they'd be like with an actual Tailed Beast inside them. Only metaphorically- he was actually quite curious, but he'd look into that some other time.

The Fifth Hokage(Or sixth, if the Third Hokage technically counted as Number Five, thanks to giving the reins over to The Fourth, only to take the reins back when he died in the Kyuubi attack) would have to be yet another neutral party. Someone calm, someone intelligent, someone logical... Shino Aburame? No. He didn't have the charisma for a leadership role. Also, heck no, nobody would follow someone who willingly keeps insect hives inside his own body. That was just sick and wrong, even to him. The human body was a beautiful thing, and it could be made even more beautiful through science! It wasn't supposed to be... /desecrated/ by being used as a mere mobile hive for lowly insects!

No, the Fifth Hokage would have to be...

Shikamaru Nara? No, their little Ino-Shika-Cho Trio needed to be kept far, far away from the Kage's seat. The way they were now, three powerful clans with seats on the Ninja Council, that was perfect. That was all the power those three would be allowed to have. That was  
already more than most of the other clans.

How about Hinata? She seemed nice, and... No. For one thing, she didn't have the 'I am a badass leader of an awesome village' thing going on, but... that was alright. She was nice. Besides, she'd have her hands full with running the Hyuuga Clan, once she took control of it. And she would take control of it, one way or another. Someone else needed to be Kage.

Himself? Sure, because a creepy genius with only an upper-class twit with self-esteem issues and a brash, violent, but cute and smarter-than-she-looked Sasuke-fangirl and Ryukatsu-loyalist for friends could totally capture the hearts of the people. Well, literally speaking, he probably could, but metaphorically? Probably not. He could begin working on becoming more liked, and more likable, but... No, he didn't want to settle for being the Kage. No, he needed a new Kage, someone unaffiliated, someone like...

Naruto?

Ryukatsu laughed. The idea was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. Without a doubt, the second-dumbest thing he'd ever heard. And yet...

That... That could actually work. Naruto was a neutral party, with no strong ties to any of the clans(Except for his semi-relationship with Hinata, but that didn't matter. Whoever ended up rivalling the Hyuuga in power would prevent any significant Hyuuga bias. Besides, Hinata was sweet and innocent, she wouldn't exploit a relationship like tht). And top it all off, the guy already wanted to be Hokage. Yes, it was so that people would be forced to acknowledge him and his power, but ambition was ambition, whatever the reasons. He could respect that, even if the reasons were kinda off. Naruto wanted to become the 'Best there ever was' so that he could get respect...

Yes... Yes, this'd be perfect! Naruto as the figurehead ruler, 'Loved' by all(In public, anyway), Sakura would probably be promoted to Secretary if she was still alive by then, she'd handle most of the paperwork and everything that required intelligence while he stayed as the awesome(At that point, he hopefully would be awesome) leader of the village... Meanwhile, Ryukatsu would conquer/destroy all the other villages and crown himself Daimyo, and eventually... Subete Kokuō, King Of Everything.

Yes, this could work. This could definitely work! But where to begin, where to begin...


End file.
